Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are remarkably reactive chemical oxygen-containing molecules that not only occupy critical positions in cell signaling and homeostasis for regulating aerobic living organism's growth and development but also broadly participate in the environmental management as extraordinary oxidizing agents. Inspired by the behaviors of ROS, we designed an artful visible light photocatalytic system for the selective conversion of amines due to the activation of oxygen (O₂) to superoxide (O₂^–) over g-C₃N₄/TiO₂. Here, blue light was manipulated as a light source to circumvent the initiation of the strong nonselective hydroxyl radical (OH) that is often generated by valence band holes (h_vb⁺) of TiO₂. Aerial O₂ was employed to achieve the long-lived, exclusive ROS, O₂^–, while acetonitrile, an aprotic solvent, was utilized to prolong the lifetime of O₂^–. Importantly, the g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ possesses an exceptional capability for the generation of O₂^–. Based on the synergistic effect of two ingredients of the g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ photocatalyst, the highly selective conversion of amines was achieved with superior conversions in comparison with the pristine TiO₂ and g-C₃N₄. Furthermore, a mechanism dominated by O₂^– was proposed according to the kinetic studies, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and ROS quenching experiments. This work highlights the importance of ROS in defining the desirable outcomes over semiconductor photocatalysts.

活性氧（ROS）是非常活泼的化学含氧分子，它们不仅在细胞信号传导和体内平衡中占据重要位置，以调节有氧生物的生长和发育，而且作为非常规氧化剂广泛参与环境管理。由活性氧的行为的启发，我们设计了用于胺的选择性转化一个巧妙的可见光的光催化系统由于氧气（O的活化₂）超氧化物（O ₂ ^- ）在GC ₃ Ñ ₄ /二氧化钛₂。在这里，将蓝光作为光源来规避强烈的非选择性羟基自由基（OH）通常是由TiO ₂的价带孔（h _vb ⁺）产生的。天线ø ₂被使用，以实现长寿命，排他性ROS，O- ₂ ^{- ，}而乙腈，质子惰性的溶剂，用于延长的O-寿命₂ ^- 。重要的是，GC ₃ Ñ ₄ /二氧化钛₂具有为的O-产生一个特殊的能力₂ ^- 。基于两种成分的gC ₃ N ₄ / TiO ₂的协同作用作为光催化剂，与原始的TiO ₂和gC ₃ N ₄相比，胺的高选择性转化率更高。此外，机构被O为主₂ ^-根据动力学研究提出，电子顺磁共振（EPR），和ROS淬火实验。这项工作凸显了ROS在定义优于半导体光催化剂的理想结果方面的重要性。