While polystyrene is widely used in daily life as a synthetic plastic, the subsequently selective degradation is still very challenging and highly required. Herein, we disclose a highly practical and selective reaction for the catalytically efficient oxidation of alkyl aromatics (including 1°, 2°, and 3° alkyl aromatics) to carboxylic acids. While dioxygen was used as the sole terminal oxidant, this protocol was catalyzed by the inexpensive and readily available ferric compound (FeCl₃) with irradiation of visible light (blue LEDs) under only 1 atmosphere of O₂ at room temperature. This system could further facilitate the selective degradation of polystyrene to benzoic acid, providing an important and practical tool to generate high-value chemical from abundant polystyrene wastes.

中文翻译：

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光诱导 FeCl3 催化的烷基芳烃氧化在室温下降解聚苯乙烯†

虽然聚苯乙烯作为合成塑料在日常生活中被广泛使用，但随后的选择性降解仍然非常具有挑战性和高要求。在此，我们公开了一种高度实用且选择性的反应，用于将烷基芳烃（包括 1°、2° 和 3° 烷基芳烃）催化有效氧化为羧酸。虽然双氧用作唯一的末端氧化剂，但该协议由廉价且容易获得的三价铁化合物 (FeCl ₃ )催化，在室温下仅在 1 个 O ₂大气压下照射可见光（蓝色 LED）。该系统可以进一步促进聚苯乙烯选择性降解为苯甲酸，为从丰富的聚苯乙烯废物中生产高价值化学品提供了重要而实用的工具。