Chromatography-Free Multicomponent Synthesis of Thioureas Enabled by Aqueous Solution of Elemental Sulfur

The development of a new three-component chromatography-free reaction of isocyanides, amines and elemental sulfur allowed us the straightforward synthesis of thioureas in water. Considering a large pool of organic and inorganic bases, we first optimized the preparation of aqueous polysulfide solution from elemental sulfur. Using polysulfide solution, we were able to omit the otherwise mandatory chromatography, and to isolate the crystalline products directly from the reaction mixture by a simple filtration, retaining the sulfur in the solution phase. A wide range of thioureas synthesized in this way confirmed the reasonable substrate and functional group tolerance of our protocol.     

Methyl orange degradation enhanced by hydrogen spillover onto platinum nanocatalyst surface

Following a thermal reduction method, platinum nanoparticles were synthesized and stabilized by polyvinylpyrrolidone. The colloidal platinum nanoparticles were stable for more than 3 months. The micrograph analysis unveiled that the colloidal platinum nanoparticles were well dispersed with an average size of 2.53 nm. The sol–gel‐based inverse micelle strategy was applied to synthesize mesoporous iron oxide material. The colloidal platinum nanoparticles were deposited on mesoporous iron oxide through the capillary inclusion method. The small‐angle X‐ray scattering analysis indicated that the dimension of platinum nanoparticles deposited on mesoporous iron oxide (Pt‐Fe₂O₃) was 2.64 nm. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data showed that the binding energy on Pt‐Fe₂O₃ surface decreased owing to mesoporous support–nanoparticle interaction. Both colloidal and deposited platinum nanocatalysts improved the degradation of methyl orange under reduction conditions. The activation energy on the deposited platinum nanocatalyst interface (2.66 kJ mol^?1) was significantly lowered compared with the one on the colloidal platinum nanocatalyst interface (40.63 ± 0.53 kJ mol^?1).