Room temperature aqueous solution synthesis of pinacol (C6) by photocatalytic CC coupling of isopropanol

•Preparation of aliphatic pinacol for the first time in an aqueous solution at room temperature.•Photocatalytic CC coupling reaction using isopropanol as the starting material.•Phase and pore structure modulation of commercial TiO2 by calcination.

Aliphatic pinacol (C6) was prepared for the first time by photocatalytic CC coupling of isopropanol in an aqueous solution at room temperature by using Pt/TiO2 catalyst. The phase and pore structure of TiO2 was modulated by calcination of the commercial TiO2 at 500–900 °C. High isopropanol conversion was achieved when the commercial P25 TiO2 was calcined at 600 °C for 20 h, and the highest pinacol yield was of 14.7% at the photocatalytic reaction of 20 h.

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