Photocatalytic reactions take place under much milder conditions compared to conventional catalytic systems, and can make full use of solar energy as the light source. Also, photocatalytic reactions avoids the use of powerful oxidants, hazardous reductants and toxic substances, which meet the demand of energy saving and environment protection. Photocatalysts are low-cost, nontoxic, possess stable physical and chemical properties and high activity on organic compounds synthesis even after used several times. The high selective activity to target product can be achieved by optimizing the photocatalytic reaction system, thus offering a green and energy-efficient route for organic compounds synthesis. The type of catalysts on photocatalytic selective synthesis of organic compounds, influencing factors of selectivity and the way to improve the selectivity in recent years are reviewed in this paper. The review especially focuses on crystal form of photocatalysts, synthesis and surface modification of catalysts, different tapes of solvents, conditions of photocatalytic reaction and other factors to the organic synthesis of photocatalytic selective, such as polymerization, hydroxylation of aromatic, oxidation of amine, epoxidation of olefins and carbonylation. Finally, the application and development of photocatalysis in selective organic synthesis are prospected.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 TiO₂ photocatalysis in organic selective synthesis
2.1 Polymerization
2.2 Hydroxylation of aromatic
2.3 Oxidation of amine
2.4 Epoxidation of olefins
2.5 Carbonylation
3 The other new catalyst in organic selective synthesis
3.1 Polyoxometalate
3.2 g-C₃N₄
3.3 V₂O₅
3.4 CdS
4 Conclusion and outlook