Catalytic Friedel–Crafts allylation using Zn(II) triflimidate

The activity of various metallic triflates and triflimidates in the Friedel–Crafts allylation of activated aromatic rings was examined. Zinc bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide was proved to be a good catalyst in the model reaction with anisole and prenyl acetate. The Friedel–Crafts allylation reaction of various aryl derivatives with allyl acetates was efficiently catalysed under mild conditions, using 3 mol% of Zn(NTf₂)₂ as the catalyst, without solvent, at 100 °C. The desired ortho and para mono-allylated products were selectively obtained in good yields. The para isomer was always favoured.     

Synthesis of 1,2-azidoalcohols from epoxides using a task-specific protic ionic liquid: 1-hydrogen-3-methylimidazolium azide

A task-specific ionic liquid as an environmentally eco-friendly green catalyst has been synthesized and used in the ring opening of epoxides under green conditions. In order to use protic ionic liquids (PIL), we decided to synthesize 1,2-azidoalcohols via a ring opening reaction of epoxides with 1-hydrogen-3-methylimidazolium azide ([Hmim]N₃), which actually acts as a solvent, a reagent and an activator of the epoxide ring. The reaction was carried out in short times (50–70 min) at 70 °C to give 1,2-azidoalcohol in 80–94% isolated yields.     

Photocatalytic hydrogen production from acidic aqueous solution in BODIPY-cobaloxime-ascorbic acid homogeneous system

For the first time, iodinated BODIPY dyes with phenylamine or 8-hydroxylquinoline moiety at the meso-position on the BODIPY core were tested for the light-driven production of H₂ from the acidic aqueous solutions.     

Influence of the solvent and of the reaction concentration for palladium-catalysed direct arylation of heteroaromatics with 4-bromoacetophenone

The solvent is certainly one of the main sources of wastes during palladium-catalysed direct arylation reactions. We found that such direct arylations of heteroaromatics can be performed using very high concentrations of reactants (0.5 M–5 M). However, the Pd catalyst precursor used must be adapted to both the solvent nature and the concentration of reactants. The reactions performed in DMA, NMP or DMF can be carried out in very concentrated reaction mixtures using 0.1 mol% Pd(OAc)₂ catalyst without phosphine ligand. On the other hand, the reactions in CPME, pentan-1-ol or diethylcarbonate should be performed with a palladium catalyst associated with a phosphine ligand. These reaction conditions allow us to reduce the amount of wastes formed in the course of these couplings.     

An efficient and green approach: One pot,multi component,reusable catalyzed synthesis of pyranopyrazoles and investigation of biological assays

An ecofriendly itinerary for the synthesis of pyranopyrazole derivatives having thioether link has been established via reusable, green catalyst, green solvent and multicomponent domino approach. To avoid impurities, usage of toxic solvents, toxic catalyst, simple workup and quantitative yields were strategies of this method. In addition, all the reported compounds were tested for their antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Some compounds displayed higher antioxidant activity than the standard drug (6a and 6j), while some other active compounds showed prominent antibacterial activity (6e and 6n). The results demonstrated that these active compounds may be used to support as a decent stand for further investigation in a way to ascertain innovative antioxidant and antibacterial medicines.     

[Cu(bpdo)2·2H2O]2+-supported SBA-15 nanocatalyst for efficient one-pot synthesis of benzoxanthenone and benzochromene derivatives

A novel [Cu(bpdo)₂·2H₂O]²⁺-supported SBA-15 catalyst (bpdo = 2,2′-bipyridine,1,1′-dioxide) was prepared by the impregnation method. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, TEM, and BET nitrogen adsorption–desorption method, FT-IR, UV–vis, and chemical analysis. XRD patterns and TEM analysis of [Cu(bpdo)₂·2H₂O]²⁺/SBA-15 showed highly ordered hexagonal mesoporous silica, even after immobilization. Also, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms exhibited type-IV isotherms and H1 hysteresis loops according to the IUPAC classification of mesoporous materials. This green support was tested for the synthesis of benzoxanthenone and benzochromene derivatives under solvent-free conditions, with high yield of products via a simple experimental and work-up procedure.     

Nano-SiO2 catalyzed three-component preparations of pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidines, 4H-chromenes,and dihydropyrano[3,2-c]chromenes

An efficient one-pot three-component procedure has been developed for the preparation of tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyrans, dihydropyrano[3,2-c]chromenes, and pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidines using nano-SiO₂ as catalyst in H₂O at 70 °C. This methodology has a number of advantages such as: use of reusable catalyst, easy access, short reaction times, high yields, easy work up and use of non-toxic and green solvent.     

Platinum nanoparticles supported on nitrobenzene-functionalised graphene nanosheets as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media

A systematic study on the electrocatalytic properties of Pt nanoparticles supported on nitrobenzene-modified graphene (Pt-NB/G) as catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solution was performed. Graphene nanosheets were spontaneously grafted with nitrophenyl groups using 4-nitrobenzenediazonium salt. The electrocatalytic activity towards the ORR and stability of the prepared catalysts in 0.1 M KOH solution have been studied and compared with that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. The results obtained show that the NB-modified graphene nanosheets can be good Pt catalyst support with high stability and excellent electrocatalytic properties. The specific activity of Pt-NB/G for O₂ reduction was 0.184 mA cm⁻², which is very close to that obtained for commercial 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst (0.214 mA cm⁻²) at 0.9 V vs. RHE. The Pt-NB/G hybrid material promotes a four-electron reduction of oxygen and can be used as a promising cathode catalyst in alkaline fuel cells.     

Enantioselective hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate catalyzed by alumina support rhodium modified with quinine

Alumina supported rhodium catalyst using cinchonidine as a stabilizer exhibited excellent performance in the asymmetric hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate with the addition of quinine. Quinine as a chiral modifier can not only induce the enantioselectivity, but also greatly accelerate the reaction. Under the optimum conditions: 293 K, 7.0 MPa of hydrogen pressure and 4.6 × 10⁻³ mol/L of quinine concentration in THF, TOF of Rh/2(cinchonidine)-γ-Al₂O₃ as catalyst and ee value of (R)-ethyl lactate can achieve 894 h⁻¹ and 71.6% ee, respectively.     

Diesel soot oxidation by nitrogen dioxide,oxygen and water under engine exhaust conditions: Kinetics data related to the reaction mechanism

Experimental studies on diesel soot oxidation under a wide range of conditions relevant for modern diesel engine exhaust and continuously regenerating particle trap were performed. Hence, reactivity tests were carried out in a fixed bed reactor for various temperatures and different concentrations of oxygen, NO₂ and water (300–600 °C, 0–10% O₂, 0–600 ppm NO₂, 0–10% H₂O). The soot oxidation rate was determined by measuring the concentration of CO and CO₂ product gases. The parametric study shows that the overall oxidation process can be described by three parallel reactions: a direct C–NO₂ reaction, a direct C–O₂ reaction and a cooperative C–NO₂–O₂ reaction. C–NO₂ and C–NO₂–O₂ are the main reactions for soot oxidation between 300 and 450 °C. Water vapour acts as a catalyst on the direct C–NO₂ reaction. This catalytic effect decreases with the increase of temperature until 450 °C. Above 450 °C, the direct C–O₂ reaction contributes to the global soot oxidation rate. Water vapour has also a catalytic effect on the direct C–O₂ reaction between 450 °C and 600 °C. Above 600 °C, the direct C–O₂ reaction is the only main reaction for soot oxidation. Taking into account the established reaction mechanism, a one-dimensional model of soot oxidation was proposed. The roles of NO₂, O₂ and H₂O were considered and the kinetic constants were obtained. The suggested kinetic model may be useful for simulating the behaviour of a diesel particulate filter system during the regeneration process.     

An efficient and simple synthesis of α-amino phosphonates as ‘drug like’ molecules catalyzed by silica-supported perchloric acid (HClO4–SiO2)

An efficient and direct protocol is described for the preparation of α-amino phosphonates derivatives by employing a multi-component, one-pot condensation reaction of aldehyde, amine and trialkyl phosphite in the presence of silica-supported perchloric acid (3 mol%) under solvent-free conditions. The thermal solvent-free green procedure offers advantages such as shorter reaction time, simple work-up, high yield, recovery and reusability of catalyst.     

Diazenyl schiff bases: Synthesis,spectral analysis,antimicrobial studies and cytotoxic activity on human colorectal carcinoma cell line (HCT-116)

A series of diazenyl schiff bases have been synthesized by reaction of salicylaldehyde containing azo dyes with various substituted aniline derivatives in the presence of acetic acid as catalyst. The structures of diazenyl derivatives were determined by FTIR, UV–vis, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, CHN analysis, fluorimetric and mass spectroscopic studies. The synthesized derivatives were screened for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against various Gram-positive (S. aureus, B. subtilis, B. cereus), Gram-negative (S. typhi, S. enterica, E. coli, P. aeruginosa) bacterial and fungal (C. albicans, A. niger and A. fumigatus) strains, using cefadroxil (antibacterial) and fluconazole (antifungal) as standard drugs. The diazenyl schiff bases were also screened for their cytotoxicity against human colorectal carcinoma cell line (HCT-116) using 5-fluorouracil as standard drug by Sulforhodamine-B Stain (SRB) assay. The schiff bases exhibited significant activity toward both Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacterial and fungal strains. Most of the synthesized derivatives showed high activity against S. enterica. 4-((2,5-Dichlorophenyl)diazenyl)-2-((3-bromophenylimino)methyl)phenol (SBN-40) was found to be very active against S. aureus, B. cereus and E. coli, with MIC = 0.69 (µM/ml × 10²). The compound 4-((2-bromophenyl)diazenyl)-2-((4-nitrophenylimino)methyl)phenol (SBN-13) possessed comparable activity (IC₅₀ = 7.5 µg/ml) to the standard drug 5-fluorouracil (IC₅₀ = 3.0 µg/ml) against human colorectal carcinoma cell line (HCT-116).     

Recyclable Fenton-like catalyst based on zeolite Y supported ultrafine,highly-dispersed Fe2O3 nanoparticles for removal of organics under mild conditions

The active Fenton-like catalyst, obtained by highly dispersed Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles in size of 5 nm on the surface of zeolite Y, shows the excellent degradation efficiency to phenol higher than 90% under the mild conditions of room temperature and neutral solution, and the catalyst can be easily recovered with stable catalytic activity for 8 cycles.     

Evaluation of synthesized green carbon catalyst from waste date pits for tertiary butylation of phenol

The present study is intended to adopt a facile method for preparing a sulphonated green carbon catalyst from date pits biomass. Catalyst synthesis involves in situ carbonization and sulphonation and it has been characterized by following techniques such as XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, FTIR, TGA, and BET. Surface and internal morphology results exhibited that the synthesized sulphonated carbon material possesses a mesoporous structure, while activated carbon possesses a microporous structure. Furthermore, the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra confirmed the presence of acidic groups (OH, COOH, and SO₃H) in synthesized sulphonated carbon material. Sulphonated carbon material exhibited high acidity (4.7 mmol/g) and good thermal stability. The application of this catalyst for the tertiary butylation of phenol without using any solvent has been investigated. The phenol alkylation reaction showed maximum conversion at reaction condition: temperature (140 °C) with 2 bar (nitrogen gas) pressure with maximum phenol conversion 79.27 wt%, with 68.01% selectivity towards 4TBP+2,4TBP, which is used as an intermediate in antioxidants. The catalyst exhibits comparable catalytic performance up to five reaction cycles. Thus it can be concluded that waste date pits can be successfully employed for green catalyst synthesis and used for reactions involving large molecules.     

Effects of calcination and activation temperature on dry reforming catalysts

The effect of calcination temperatures on dry reforming catalysts supported on high surface area alumina Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ (SA-6175) was studied experimentally. In this study, the prepared catalyst was tested in a micro tubular reactor using temperature ranges of 500, 600, 700 and 800 °C at atmospheric pressure, using a total flow rate of 33 ml/min consisting of 3 ml/min of N₂, 15 ml/min of CO₂ and 15 ml/min of CH₄. The calcination was carried out in the range of 500–900 °C. The catalyst is activated inside the reactor at 500–800 °C using hydrogen gas. It was observed that calcination enhances catalyst activity which increases as calcination and reaction temperatures were increased. The highest conversion was obtained at 800 °C reaction temperature by using catalyst calcined at 900 °C and activation at 700 °C. The catalyst characterization conducted supported the observed experimental results.     

FeAgMo2O8 — A novel oxygen evolution catalyst material for alkaline metal–air batteries

This paper reports about FeAgMo₂O₈ — a novel oxygen evolution catalyst material for secondary (rechargeable) metal–air batteries. Bifunctional air electrodes were made using FeAgMo₂O₈ as a charging catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and silverized carbon black (Ag/C) was employed as a discharging catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Corresponding air electrodes were investigated using 10 M KOH as an electrolyte. At current densities between 20 and 50 mA per cm² we observed discharging and charging voltages of 1.20 to 1.15 V and 1.96 to 2.05 V, respectively.     

Hydrogen production by catalytic steam reforming of acetic acid,a model compound of biomass pyrolysis liquids

An environmentally friendly and cost-competitive way of producing hydrogen is the catalytic steam reforming of biomass pyrolysis liquids, known as bio-oil, which can be separated into two fractions: ligninic and aqueous. Acetic acid has been identified as one of the major organic acids present in the latter, and catalytic steam reforming has been studied for this model compound. Three different Ni coprecipitated catalysts have been prepared with varying nickel content (23, 28 and 33% expressed as a Ni/(Ni + Al) relative at.% of nickel). Several parameters have been analysed using a microscale fixed-bed facility: the effect of the catalyst reduction time, the reaction temperature, the catalyst weight/acetic acid flow rate (W/m_HAc) ratio, and the effect of the nickel content. The catalyst with 33% Ni content at 650 °C showed no significant enhancement of the hydrogen yield after 2 h of reduction compared to 1 h under the same experimental conditions. Its performance was poorer when reduced for just 0.5 h. For W/m_HAc ratios greater than 2.29 g catalyst min/g acetic acid (650 °C, 33% Ni content) no improvement was observed, whereas for values lower than 2.18 g catalyst min/g acetic acid a decrease in product gas yields occurred rapidly. The temperatures studied were 550, 650 and 750 °C. No decrease in product gas yields was observed at 750 °C under the established experimental conditions. Below this temperature, the aforementioned decrease became more important with decreasing temperatures. The catalyst with 28% Ni content performed better than the other two.     

Syngas production from ethanol dry reforming over Rh/CeO2 catalyst

Carbon dioxide reforming of ethanol over Rh/CeO₂ catalyst was deeply investigated at different reaction temperatures of 450–700 °C and reactant ratios (CO₂/ethanol from 1 to 3) under atmospheric pressure. The obtained results indicated that Rh/CeO₂ catalyst presented a promising activity and stability for syngas production from renewable bio-ethanol instead of conventional methane. Typically, CO₂-rich conditions (CO₂/ethanol = 3) were favorable for reaction process and dynamic coke cleaning, which led to remarkably stable performance over 65 h on stream. The strong redox capacity of CeO₂ support might also accelerate CO₂ activation and prevent the carbon accumulation over the catalyst surface. Additionally, tunable H₂/CO ratios were available by changing the CO₂/ethanol ratios. The results from characterization of samples before and after catalytic tests allowed to establish the relationship between textural properties and catalytic performance.     

Study of CuZnMOx oxides (M = Al,Zr, Ce,CeZr) for the catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 into methanol

CuO–ZnO–Al₂O₃ catalysts were synthesized by two methods, sol–gel and co-precipitation syntheses. Al₂O₃ was then substituted with other supports, such as ZrO₂, CeO₂ and CeO₂–ZrO₂ in order to have a better understanding of the support's effect. These catalysts containing 30 wt% of Cu were then tested for CO₂ hydrogenation into methanol. The effect of reaction temperature and GHSV on the catalytic behaviour was also investigated. The best results were obtained with a 30 CuO–ZnO–ZrO₂ catalyst synthesized by co-precipitation and calcined at 400 °C. This catalyst presents a good CO₂ conversion rate (23%) with 33% of methanol selectivity, leading to a methanol productivity of 331 g_MeOH.kg_cata⁻¹·h⁻¹ at 280 °C under 50 bar and a GHSV of 10,000 h⁻¹.     

Hydrogen oxidation reaction on thin platinum electrodes in the polymer electrolyte fuel cell

A method for measuring the kinetics of the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in a fuel cell under enhanced mass transport conditions is presented. The measured limiting current density was roughly 1600 mA cm_Pt^? 2, corresponding to a rate constant of the forward reaction in the Tafel step of 0.14 mol m^? 2 s^? 1 at 80 °C and 90% RH. The exchange current density for the HOR was determined using the slope at low overvoltages and was found to be 770 mA cm_Pt^? 2. The high values for the limiting and exchange current densities suggest that the Pt loading in the anode catalyst can be reduced further without imposing measurable voltage loss.