氮掺杂碳包覆纳米钴颗粒用于硝基芳烃室温选择性加氢（英文）

通过硝基芳烃选择性加氢能高效地制备芳香胺和环胺,其中芳香胺作为重要的化工中间体应用于多个领域(精细化工、商业产品和聚合物).在加氢反应过程中,硝基的还原伴随着生成一些副产物(如亚硝基和偶氮化合物).同时对于含还原性基团的取代硝基苯,硝基的选择还原也面临着很大的挑战.金属钴是常用的硝基加氢催化剂活性成分,但是由于对反应底物的过度吸附,导致其选择性不高.早期研究发现,氮掺杂碳催化剂能有效吸附硝基基团,从而在硝基苯加氢中表现出一定活性,但对分子氢的活化不足.因此,氮掺杂碳作为吸附材料与钴构建复合催化剂,能够发挥吸附和活化氢的协同作用,从而高效催化硝基苯加氢.基于此,本课题组发展了一种制备方法,可将钴颗粒尺寸限制在10 nm左右,且包覆在氮掺杂碳中,并应用于对硝基苯酚的室温选择性加氢反应中,发现相较于碳负载钴和氮掺杂碳催化剂,所制催化剂在室温下表现出了很好的活性和选择性.在此基础上,本文采用元素分析、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)和拉曼光谱(Raman)等手段对催化剂形貌和结构进行了研究.表征结果表明,保持钴前驱体的量不变,随着氮化碳加入量的增加,催化剂中氮掺杂浓度提高;当氮化碳/钴1时,氮掺杂浓度不变.红外结果表明,与普通碳载体相比,氮掺杂碳对硝基苯有很强的吸附作用,而氮掺杂碳包覆的钴催化剂也表现出同样的结果.通过调节氮的掺杂浓度,一方面可以修饰碳载体的电子结构,增加表面缺陷的浓度,提高与反应底物的相互作用;另一方面可以促进电子由钴颗粒转移至与之相连的氮原子上,因此进一步促进钴颗粒对分子氢的活化作用.该复合结构的催化剂实现了底物吸附和氢活化的协同作用,氮掺杂碳将反应底物吸附在表面,钴颗粒活化氢,随后解离的氢原子与表面吸附物反应,从而实现硝基苯的高效加氢.其中Co@NC-1催化活性最高,并在循环套用10次后,仍维持较高的催化活性,同时对含其它取代基的硝基苯均表现很高的活性和选择性.

Cobalt nanoparticles encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon for room-temperature selective hydrogenation of nitroarenes

Here, we report cobalt nanoparticles encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon (Co@NC) that exhibit excellent catalytic activity and chemoselectivity for room-temperature hydrogenation of ni-troarenes. Co@NC was synthesized by pyrolyzing a mixture of a cobalt salt, an inexpensive organic molecule, and carbon nitride. Using the Co@NC catalyst, a turnover frequency of ~12.3 h-1and selectivity for 4-aminophenol of >99.9% were achieved for hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol at room temperature and 10 bar H2pressure. The excellent catalytic performance can be attributed to the cooperative effect of hydrogen activation by electron-deficient Co nanoparticles and energetically preferred adsorption of the nitro group of nitroarenes to electron-rich N-doped carbon. In addition, there is electron transfer from the Co nanoparticles to N-doped carbon, which further enhances the functionality of the metal center and carbon support. The catalyst also exhibits stable recycling performance and high activity for nitroaromatics with various substituents.