Ultrasound-Assisted Bromination of Aromatic Rings Using NaBr/H2 O2 System

Light on the sustainable preparation of aryl-cored dibromides

Both aryl and benzyl polybromides have gained significant importance as reactive building blocks in polymer and materials chemistry. Their preparation primarily relies on established synthetic methods using molecular bromine or N-bromosuccinimide, known for their reliability and effectiveness. However, from a sustainability perspective, these methods suffer from the generation of stoichiometric amounts of byproducts and often encounter selectivity troubles. To mitigate these issues, we extended the greener peroxide-bromide halogenation method, initially developed for monobromides, to afford aryl-cored polybromides in high yields. The same method can be employed in two variants modulated by light irradiation. This external switch can be used to selectively trigger side-chain or core halogenation.

Recent progress in the oxidative bromination of arenes and heteroarenes

Oxidative bromination has been serving as a powerful tool for the synthesis of bromo-containing molecules, as this bromination strategy features environmental friendliness, high flexibility in reaction system design and wide abundance of bromide sources and oxidants. The past decade has witnessed a large number of efficient oxidative bromination reaction systems and novel brominated aromatics. This review summarizes recent developments in the field of oxidative preparation of bromoarenes and bromoheteroarenes covering from 2012 to 2022.

Phosphotungstic acid impregnated niobium coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as recyclable catalyst for selective isomerization of terpenes

Conversion efficiency as high as 80-100% and 50% selectivity for camphene and limonene was achieved with low production of polymeric byproducts (18-28%), easy recovery with a magnet and reuse for up to five cycles maintaining similar activity and distribution of products, using a new magnetically recyclable catalyst based on niobium oxide coated on superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) impregnated with phosphotungstic acid (HPW). The catalyst was demonstrated to be effective in the selective conversion of alpha and beta-pinenes into valuable terpenes, under ultrasonic probe activation and with toluene as solvent. A unique synergic effect between the components generating more active and selective catalytic sites was demonstrated, indicating that the SPION covered with 30 wt% of Nb2O5 gives the best performance when impregnated with HPW as co-catalyst. The materials were fully characterized by XRD, EDX, XPS, TEM, BET, VSM and FTIR.