高效多羟胺有机催化剂选择性催化分子氧氧化研究进展

基于氧气(空气)为氧源的选择性催化分子氧氧化技术在制备含氧精细化学品或食品添加剂与医药等的重要中间体方面一直受到科学界的广泛关注.由于碳氢化合物中碳氢键的反应惰性和分子氧的自旋禁阻作用,设计与开发高效催化剂或催化体系以实现碳氢化合物的选择性氧化是当前催化氧化领域的研究热点.在已发展的过渡金属盐、仿生催化剂、有机催化剂、酶、碳材料和卤化物等众多催化剂中,以N-羟基邻苯二甲酰亚胺(NHPI)为代表的羟胺有机催化剂由于在温和条件下的卓越催化性能而备受瞩目.尽管基于羟胺有机催化剂的催化体系具有良好的工业应用前景,但仍存在催化剂高温易分解、使用量较大和可回收性较差等缺点.近年来,许多实验与理论工作围绕改进这些缺点展开,设计了一系列羟胺有机催化剂及其协同催化体系,如在NHPI结构中修饰疏水链基团、吸电子基团、N-烷氧基团和离子液体,或固载金属-有机框架材料、无机物和聚合物,或组合光催化剂.尽管已有大量综述总结了相关研究进展,但尚未见到有关近年来发展的多羟胺有机催化剂及其高效催化氧化性能的综述报道.本文综述了近15年来多羟胺有机催化剂选择性催化分子氧氧化碳氢化合物的研究进展.首先,简要概述了N,N-二羟基邻苯二甲酰亚胺(NDHPI)和N,N',N"-三羟基异氰基尿酸(THICA)两种多羟胺有机催化剂的合成方法,系统介绍了它们在各类碳氢化合物氧化中的高效催化性能,并与普遍应用的NHPI的催化性能进行对比.由于NDHPI与THICA具有多羟胺的独特结构,它们只需要比NHPI更少的用量便可获得比NHPI更高的催化氧化效率,可以直接利用高压空气实现对碳氢化合物的选择性催化氧化,并且在较高温度下依然具有较好的催化效果.在此基础上,介绍了联系实验与理论之间的重要工作,总结了多羟胺有机催化剂的合理设计策略.理论计算研究揭示了NDHPI与THICA的催化性能优于NHPI的主要原因是具有类似于吸电子效应的多羟胺与多氮氧自由基结构能显著增强催化剂的夺氢活性.通过对NDHPI结构的进一步修饰和夺氢活性研究,提出了该类催化剂的合理设计策略:在芳环体系中增加共轭的羟胺基团数量,或在NDHPI苯环中掺杂N原子或引入离子对基团都能提高催化剂的夺氢活性;增大芳环共轭体系对催化剂的夺氢活性影响较小,但该活性仍高于NHPI.这也为基于碳材料的非均相共轭多羟胺有机催化剂的开发提供了理论依据.最后,结合羟胺有机催化剂的发展现状和上述设计策略,设计了基于金属卟啉/席夫碱等仿生催化剂、(含离子对结构)聚合物、非均相碳材料和多N-烷氧基团等几种具有潜在发展前景的模型多羟胺有机催化剂,分别讨论了这些催化剂的优点和局限性,并展望了多羟胺有机催化剂的可能应用及其在催化氧化过程中仍需系统研究的方向.

Selective aerobic oxidation promoted by highly efficient multi-nitroxy organocatalysts

Selective oxidation with molecular oxygen as the sole oxidant under mild conditions is of crucial importance for the long-term sustainable exploitation of available feedstocks and the formation of required intermediates for organic synthesis and industrial processes.Among the developed oxidation protocols,innovative strategies using hydroxyimide organocatalysts in combination with metallic or metal-free cocatalysts have attracted much attention because of the good activities and selectivities of such catalysts in the oxo functionalization of hydrocarbons.This method is based on the reaction using N-hydroxyphthalimide,which was first reported by Ishii's group in the 1990s.Although the important and wide-ranging applications of such catalysts have been summarized recently,there are no reviews that focus solely on oxidation strategies using multi-nitroxy organocatalysts,which have interesting properties and high reactivities.This review covers the concise synthetic methods and mechanistic profiles of known multi-nitroxy organocatalysts and summarizes significant advances in their use in efficient aerobic oxidation.Based on a combination of experimental and theoretical results,guidelines for the future rational design of multi-nitroxy organocatalysts are proposed,and the properties of various model multi-nitroxy organocatalysts are predicted.The present overview of the advantages,limitations,and potential applications of multi-nitroxy organocatalysts can provide useful tools for researchers in the field of selective oxidation.