氮掺杂氧化石墨催化苄胺氧化

酰胺类化合物是重要的化工原料和生物医药合成的中间体,但其制备大部分需要使用贵金属催化剂,因此,发展廉价金属乃至非金属催化剂具有重大意义.本文使用化学气相沉积法合成了氮掺杂的层状氧化石墨材料,并将其应用于苄胺氧化反应中,实现了液相中酰胺合成的非金属催化过程.在水相中可以活化氧气较高产率地生成亚胺化合物N-苄亚甲基苄胺,并且成功实现了在氨水反应介质中高转化率和选择性地生成苯甲酰胺.此外,对反应中的影响因素进行了逐一研究,并从多方面探究了该反应中氨水的作用以及反应最可能的历程,提出了一条经过包括亚胺在内的多个中间产物的反应路径.本工作对于研究碳氢键的活化过程以及拓宽碳催化领域进行了有益的尝试.     

Synthesis of Indenes via Graphene Oxide Mediated Manipulation of Morita-Baylis-Hillman Alcohols

A new metal-free synthetic approach to functionalized indenes is documented. The use of commercially available graphene oxide (GO) allowed the direct access to indenyl cores (yield up to 80 %) via intramolecular Friedel-Crafts-type allylic alkylations with readily available Morita-Baylis-Hillman alcohols. Combined experimental and spectroscopic investigations contributed to shed light on the reaction mechanism dealing with a nanostructured carbon material-based C−C bond forming reaction.     

Carbocatalysis in Liquid‐Phase Reactions

There is broad interest in metal‐free catalysis for sustainable chemistry. Carbocatalysis is a “green” option for catalytic transformations in the gas phase as well as in the liquid phase. This is evident by the numerous reports on gas‐phase dehydrogenation and selective oxidation where carbon can be used as a successful alternative to metal oxide systems. Carbocatalysis for liquid‐phase reactions, especially for organic synthesis, is an emerging research discipline and has undergone rapid development in recent years. This Review provides a critical analysis on the state‐of‐the‐art of carbocatalysts for liquid‐phase reactions, with a focus on the underlying mechanisms as well as the advantages and limitations of metal‐free carbocatalysts.     

Carbon-Doped BN Nanosheets for the Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethylbenzene

Carbon-based catalysts have demonstrated great potential for the aerobic oxidative dehydrogenation reaction (ODH). However, its widespread application is retarded by the unavoidable deactivation owing to the appearance of coking or combustion under ODH conditions. The synthesis and characterization of porous structure of BCN nanosheets as well as their application as a novel catalyst for ODH is reported. Such BCN nanosheets consist of hybridized, randomly distributed domains of h-BN and C phases, where C, B, and N were confirmed to covalent bond in the graphene-like layers. Our studies reveal that BCN exhibits both high activity and selectivity in oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene, as well as excellent oxidation resistance. The discovery of such a simple chemical process to synthesize highly active BCN allows the possibility of carbocatalysis to be explored.     

Hydrogen Dissociation Catalyzed by Carbon‐Coated Nickel Nanoparticles: Experiment and Theory

Based on the combination of experimental measurements and first‐principles calculations we report a novel carbon‐based catalytic material and describe significant acceleration of the hydrogenation of magnesium at room temperature in the presence of nickel nanoparticles wrapped in multilayer graphene. The increase in rate of magnesium hydrogenation in contrast to a mix of graphite and nickel nanoparticles evidences intrinsic catalytic properties of the nanocomposites explored. The results from simulation demonstrate that doping of the metal substrate and the presence of Stone–Wales defects turn multilayer graphene from being chemically inert to chemically active. The role of the size of the nanoparticles and temperature are also discussed.     

Graphene Oxide as a Carbocatalyst for a Diels–Alder Reaction in an Aqueous Medium

The Diels–Alder (DA) reaction, a [4+2] cycloaddition reaction, is highly important in synthetic organic chemistry and is frequently used in the synthesis of natural products containing six‐membered rings. Herein, we report an efficient protocol for the DA reaction between 9‐hydroxymethylanthracene and N‐substituted maleimides using two‐dimensional graphene oxide (GO) as a heterogeneous carbocatalyst in an aqueous medium at room temperature. High yields, a wide substrate scope, low temperature, excellent functional group tolerance, atom economy, and water as a green solvent are noteworthy features of this protocol. The heterogeneous GO catalyst can be easily recovered and used multiple times without any significant loss in catalytic activity.     

Allylic and Allenylic Dearomatization of Indoles Promoted by Graphene Oxide by Covalent Grafting Activation Mode

The site-selective allylative and allenylative dearomatization of indoles with alcohols was performed under carbocatalytic regime in the presence of graphene oxide (GO, 10 wt % loading) as the promoter. Metal-free conditions, absence of stoichiometric additive, environmentally friendly conditions (H₂O/CH₃CN, 55 °C, 6 h), broad substrate scope (33 examples, yield up to 92 %) and excellent site- and stereoselectivity characterize the present methodology. Moreover, a covalent activation model exerted by GO functionalities was corroborated by spectroscopic, experimental and computational evidences. Recovering and regeneration of the GO catalyst through simple acidic treatment was also documented.