Photocatalytic oxidation of 1-hexene by GaPc (1a-1c) and InPc (2a-2c) derivatives (Pc = phthalocyanine) is hereby presented. The derivatives studied are Pc octasubstituted with phenoxy (a), 4-tert-butylphenoxy (b) or benzyloxyphenoxy (c) at the peripheral positions. The photocatalytic oxidation products for 1-hexene were 1,2-epoxyhexane and 1-hexen-3-ol. The %conversion values of 1-hexene and %selectivity of 1,2-epoxyhexane were generally higher for InPc derivatives. Even though InPc derivatives showed better photocatalytic results than GaPc derivatives, the former were less stable relative to the latter. Both type I and type II mechanism were implicated in the photocatalysis mechanism. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.