Quaternary ammonium hydroxide-functionalized g-C3N4 catalyst for aerobic hydroxylation of arylboronic acids to phenols

A new and efficient metal-free approach toward the synthesis of phenols via an aerobic hydroxylation of arylboronic acids by using a novel quaternary ammonium hydroxide g-C₃N₄ catalyst has been described. The functionalized quaternary ammonium hydroxide (g-C₃N₄-OH) has been prepared from graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) scaffold by converting the residual –NH₂ and –NH groups to quaternary methyl ammonium iodide by performing a methylation reaction with methyl iodide followed by ion-exchange with 0.1 N KOH or anion exchange resin Amberlyst A26 (OH- form) by post-synthetic modification. The resultant g-C₃N₄-OH was characterized by XRD, FTIR, field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherms, and acid–base titration. Tested as solid-base catalysts, the g-C₃N₄-OH showed excellent catalytic activity in the aerobic hydroxylation reaction by converting a variety of arylboronic acids to the corresponding phenols in high yields. More importantly, the g-C₃N₄-OH solid-base has been successfully reused four times with the minor loss of initial catalytic activity (10.5%).