Substrate inhibition in the heterogeneous catalyzed aldol condensation: A mechanistic study of supported organocatalysts

Molecular interactions in diffusion-controlled aldol condensation with mesoporous silica nanoparticles

The aldol reaction of p-nitrobenzaldehyde in amino-catalyzed mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) has revealed varying catalytic activity with the size of the pores of MSN. The pore size dependence related to the reactivity indicates that the diffusion process is important. A detailed molecular-level analysis for understanding diffusion requires assessment of the noncovalent interactions of the molecular species involved in the aldol reaction with each other, with the solvent, and with key functional groups on the pore surface. Such an analysis is presented here based upon the effective fragment potential (EFP). The EFP method can calculate the intermolecular interactions, decomposed into Coulomb, polarization, dispersion, exchange-repulsion, and charge-transfer interactions. In this study, the potential energy surfaces corresponding to each intermolecular interaction are analyzed for homo- and hetero-dimers with various configurations. The monomers that compose dimers are five molecules such as p-nitrobenzaldehyde, acetone, n-hexane, propylamine, and silanol. The results illustrate that the dispersion interaction is crucial in most dimers.

Engineering of Polystyrene-Supported Acid-Base Catalysts for Aldol Condensation in Water

Aldol reaction in water can effectively limit the formation of Schiff bases that deactivate active amine sites. To date, regulation of cooperative behaviors and morphologies of polymer-supported acid-base catalysts remains...

NMR relaxation time measurements of solvent effects in an organocatalysed asymmetric aldol reaction over silica SBA-15 supported proline

The behaviour of solvents in solid-supported proline organocatalysts is explored using NMR relaxation measurements coupled with reaction screening. Solvents with a lower affinity for the solid surface lead to a higher reactivity.

Solid-state NMR studies of non-ionic surfactants confined in mesoporous silica

This review gives an overview of current trends in the investigation of confined molecules such as higher alcohols, ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol as guest molecules in neat and functionalized mesoporous silica materials. All these molecules have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts. They are characteristic role-models for the investigation of confined surfactants. Their properties are studied by a combination of solid-state NMR and relaxometry with other physicochemical techniques and molecular dynamics techniques. It is shown that this combination delivers unique insights into the structure, arrangement, dynamical properties and the guest-host interactions inside the confinement.

Effective Fragment Potential-Based Molecular Dynamics Studies of Diffusion in Acetone and Hexane

To facilitate more reliable descriptions of transport properties in liquids, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed based on the effective fragment potential (EFP) method derived from first-principles quantum mechanics (in contrast to MD based upon empirically fitted potentials). The EFP method describes molecular interactions in terms of Coulomb, polarization/induction, dispersion, exchange-repulsion, and charge-transfer interactions. The EFP MD simulations described in this paper, performed on hexane and acetone, are able to track the mean-square displacement of molecules for sufficient time to reliably extract translational diffusion coefficients. The results reported here are in reasonable agreement with experiment.

Porous Silica-Based Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Catalysts: A Review

Hybrid organic-inorganic catalysts have been extensively investigated by several research groups in the last decades, as they allow combining the structural robust-ness of inorganic solids with the versatility of organic chemistry. Within the field of hybrid catalysts, synthetic strategies based on silica are among the most exploitable, due to the convenience of sol-gel chemistry, to the array of silyl-derivative precursors that can be synthesized and to the number of post-synthetic functionalization strategies available, amongst others. This review proposes to highlight these advantages, firstly describing the most common synthetic tools and the chemistry behind sol-gel syntheses of hybrid catalysts, then presenting exemplificative studies involving mono- and multi-functional silica-based hybrid catalysts featuring different types of active sites (acid, base, redox). Materials obtained through different approaches are described and their properties, as well as their catalytic performances, are compared. The general scope of this review is to gather useful information for those approaching the synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid materials, while providing an overview on the state-of-the art in the synthesis of such materials and highlighting their capacities.

Surface structure of linear nanopores in amorphous silica: Comparison of properties for different pore generation algorithms

We compare the surface structure of linear nanopores in amorphous silica (a-SiO₂) for different versions of "pore drilling" algorithms (where the pores are generated by the removal of atoms from the preformed bulk a-SiO₂) and for "cylindrical resist" algorithms (where a-SiO₂ is formed around a cylindrical exclusion region). After adding H to non-bridging O, the former often results in a moderate to high density of surface silanol groups, whereas the latter produces a low density. The silanol surface density for pore drilling can be lowered by a final dehydroxylation step, and that for the cylindrical resist approach can be increased by a final hydroxylation step. In this respect, the two classes of algorithms are complementary. We focus on the characterization of the chemical structure of the pore surface, decomposing the total silanol density into components corresponding to isolated and vicinal mono silanols and geminal silanols. The final dehyroxylation and hydroxylation steps can also be tuned to better align some of these populations with the target experimental values.

Small Molecules, Non-Covalent Interactions, and Confinement

This review gives an overview of current trends in the investigation of small guest molecules, confined in neat and functionalized mesoporous silica materials by a combination of solid-state NMR and relaxometry with other physico-chemical techniques. The reported guest molecules are water, small alcohols, and carbonic acids, small aromatic and heteroaromatic molecules, ionic liquids, and surfactants. They are taken as characteristic role-models, which are representatives for the typical classes of organic molecules. It is shown that this combination delivers unique insights into the structure, arrangement, dynamics, guest-host interactions, and the binding sites in these confined systems, and is probably the most powerful analytical technique to probe these systems.

Functionalized cellulose nanofibril aerogels as cooperative acid-base organocatalysts for liquid flow reactions

Cellulose nanomaterial aerogels are macroscopic porous solids with relatively high surface areas and are thus an interesting basis for renewable catalyst materials. Cross-linked acid-base bifunctional catalyst aerogels are produced here from TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCNF) and demonstrated in both batch and flow catalysis. Recently established acid-base modification for catalysis is expanded upon for chemical or physical cross-linking with small molecules and polymers. Low density and relatively high surface area (up to 74 m² g^-1) aerogel catalysts are produced with a variety of processing approaches and then freeze-dried from water or tert-butyl alcohol/water mixtures. Finer pore structure and increased surface area are achieved with tert-butyl alcohol as co-solvent. Chemical cross-linking improved aerogel stability to solvents. Homogeneous and aerogel TOCNF catalysts are shown to be effective acid-base cooperative catalysts for aldol condensation reactions in batch reactions. Continuous flow reactions are performed with glass column reactors packed with aerogel catalysts that showed improved rates relative to batch experiments, while also demonstrating physical stability. Catalyst deactivation in flow reactions is observed and observations of deactivation support previously reported mechanisms of site poisoning by competitive chemisorption of reactants in analogous acid-base catalysts. This report is a key demonstration of cellulose nanofibril aerogels for catalysis in continuous liquid flow reactions.

Recent Contributions of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Organocatalysis Mechanism Elucidation

Background:

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is one of the most employed techniques in structural elucidation of organic compounds. In addition to its use in structural characterization, it has been widely employed in the investigation of reaction mechanisms, especially those involving catalysis.

Objective:

In this review, we aim to provide recent examples of the interface of NMR and organocatalysis reaction mechanism.

Methods:

Selected examples of different approaches for mechanism elucidation will be presented, such as isotopic effect, catalyst labelling and online reaction monitoring. A discussion involving the use of solid-state NMR will also be disclosed.

Conclusion:

NMR consists of a non-destructive technique, extremely useful in the real-time identification of intermediates in crude reaction mixtures. With the advent of two-dimensional experiments and high field NMR spectrometers, the reports of studies involving mechanistic elucidation were greatly enhanced. In this context, nowadays NMR appears as a powerful tool for the comprehension of reaction mechanisms, including the possibility of the proposal of unknown reaction mechanisms within organocatalysis.

Catalyst Stability Assessment in a Lab-Scale Liquid-Solid (LS)² Plug-Flow Reactor

A packed-bed plug-flow reactor, denoted as the lab-scale liquid-solid (LS)² reactor, has been developed for the assessment of heterogeneous catalyst deactivation in liquid-phase reactions. The possibility to measure intrinsic kinetics was first verified with the model transesterification of ethyl acetate with methanol, catalyzed by the stable commercial resin Lewatit K2629, for which a turnover frequency (TOF) of 6.2 ± 0.4 × 10−3 s−1 was obtained. The absence of temperature and concentration gradients was verified with correlations and experimental tests. The potential for assessing the deactivation of a catalyst was demonstrated by a second intrinsic kinetics evaluation where a methylaminopropyl (MAP)-functionalized mesoporous silica catalyst was used for the aldol reaction of acetone with 4-nitrobenzaldehyde in different solvents. The cooperative MAP catalyst deactivated as a function of time on stream when using hexane as solvent. Yet, the monofunctional MAP catalyst exhibited stable activity for at least 4 h on stream, which resulted in a TOF of 1.2 ± 0.1 × 10−3 s−1. It did, however, deactivate with dry acetone or DMSO as solvent due to the formation of site-blocking species. This deactivation was mitigated by co-feeding 2 wt % of water to DMSO, resulting in stable catalyst activity.

Inter- and Intramolecular Cooperativity Effects in Alkanolamine-Based Acid-Base Heterogeneous Organocatalysts

Intramolecular cooperativity in heterogeneous organocatalysts is investigated using alkanolamine-functionalized silica acid-base catalysts for the aldol condensation reaction of 4-nitrobenzaldehyde and acetone. Two series of catalysts, one with and one without silanol-capping, are synthesized with varied alkyl linker lengths (two to five) connecting secondary amine and terminal hydroxyl functionalities. The reactivity of these catalysts is assessed to determine the relative potential for intermolecular (silane amine-surface silanol) vs intramolecular (amine-hydroxyl within a single silane) cooperativity, the impact of inhibitory surface-silane interactions, and the role of alkyl linker length and flexibility. For the array of catalysts tested, those with longer linker lengths generally give increased catalytic activity, although the turnover frequency trends differ between catalysts with and without surface silanol capping. Catalysts with alkyl-substituted amines lacking a terminal hydroxyl demonstrate an adverse effect of chain length, where the larger alkyl substituent on the amine provides steric hindrance depressing catalytic activity, while giving additional evidence for improved rates afforded by intramolecular cooperativity in the alkanolamine materials. The silanol-capped alkanolamine catalyst with the longest alkyl linker is found to be the most active alkanolamine catalyst due to its hydrophobized surface, which removes hypothesized silanol-alkanolamine inhibitory interactions, with the sufficient length and flexibility of its amine-hydroxyl linker allowing for favorable conformations for cooperativity. This study demonstrates the feasibility of and important factors affecting intramolecular cooperative activity in acid-base heterogeneous organocatalysis.

Kinetic evaluation of chitosan-derived catalysts for the aldol reaction in water

The reaction rate and stability of chitosan as heterogeneous amine catalyst is quantified in a batch and continuous-flow aldol reaction.

Improved strategies for DNP-enhanced 2D 1H-X heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy of surfaces

We demonstrate that dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)-enhanced ¹H-X heteronuclear correlation (HETCOR) measurements of hydrogen-rich surface species are better accomplished by using proton-free solvents. This approach notably prevents HETCOR spectra from being obfuscated by the solvent-derived signals otherwise present in DNP measurements. Additionally, in the hydrogen-rich materials studied here, which included functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles and metal organic frameworks, the use of proton-free solvents afforded higher sensitivity gains than the commonly used solvents containing protons. We also explored the possibility of using a solvent-free sample formulation and the feasibility of indirect detection in DNP-enhanced HETCOR experiments.

Catalytic conversion in nanoporous materials: Concentration oscillations and spatial correlations due to inhibited transport and intermolecular interactions

We show that steady-state catalytic conversion in nanoporous materials can occur in a quasi-counter-diffusion mode with the reactant (product) concentration strongly decaying (growing) into the pore, but also with oscillations in the total concentration. These oscillations reflect the response of the fluid to the transition from an extended to a confined environment near the pore opening. We focus on the regime of strongly inhibited transport in narrow pores corresponding to single-file diffusion. Here, limited penetration of the reactant into the pores and the associated low reaction yield is impacted by strong spatial correlations induced by both reaction (non-equilibrium correlations) and also by intermolecular interactions (thermodynamic correlations). We develop a generalized hydrodynamic formulation to effectively describe inhibited transport accounting for the effect of these correlations, and incorporate this description of transport into appropriate reaction-diffusion equations. These equations accurately describe both shorter-range concentration oscillations near the pore opening and the longer-range mesoscale variation of concentration profiles in the pore (and thus also describe reaction yield). Success of the analytic theory is validated by comparison with a precise kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of an appropriate molecular-level stochastic reaction-diffusion model. This work elucidates unconventional chemical kinetics in interacting confined systems.

Catalytic conversion reactions in nanoporous systems with concentration-dependent selectivity: Statistical mechanical modeling

Statistical mechanical modeling is developed to describe a catalytic conversion reaction A→B^{c} or B^{t} with concentration-dependent selectivity of the products, B^{c} or B^{t}, where reaction occurs inside catalytic particles traversed by narrow linear nanopores. The associated restricted diffusive transport, which in the extreme case is described by single-file diffusion, naturally induces strong concentration gradients. Furthermore, by comparing kinetic Monte Carlo simulation results with analytic treatments, selectivity is shown to be impacted by strong spatial correlations induced by restricted diffusivity in the presence of reaction and also by a subtle clustering of reactants, A.

Silanol-Assisted Carbinolamine Formation in an Amine-Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Surface: Theoretical Investigation by Fragmentation Methods

The aldol reaction catalyzed by an amine-substituted mesoporous silica nanoparticle (amine-MSN) surface was investigated using a large molecular cluster model (Si392O958C6NH361) combined with the surface integrated molecular orbital/molecular mechanics (SIMOMM) and fragment molecular orbital (FMO) methods. Three distinct pathways for the carbinolamine formation, the first step of the amine-catalyzed aldol reaction, are proposed and investigated in order to elucidate the role of the silanol environment on the catalytic capability of the amine-MSN material. The computational study reveals that the most likely mechanism involves the silanol groups actively participating in the reaction, forming and breaking covalent bonds in the carbinolamine step. Therefore, the active participation of MSN silanol groups in the reaction mechanism leads to a significant reduction in the overall energy barrier for the carbinolamine formation. In addition, a comparison between the findings using a minimal cluster model and the Si392O958C6NH361 cluster suggests that the use of larger models is important when heterogeneous catalysis problems are the target.

Studies of minute quantities of natural abundance molecules using 2D heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy under 100 kHz MAS

Two-dimensional (1)H{(13)C} heteronuclear correlation solid-state NMR spectra of naturally abundant solid materials are presented, acquired using the 0.75-mm magic angle spinning (MAS) probe at spinning rates up to 100 kHz. In spite of the miniscule sample volume (290 nL), high-quality HSQC-type spectra of bulk samples as well as surface-bound molecules can be obtained within hours of experimental time. The experiments are compared with those carried out at 40 kHz MAS using a 1.6-mm probe, which offered higher overall sensitivity due to a larger rotor volume. The benefits of ultrafast MAS in such experiments include superior resolution in (1)H dimension without resorting to (1)H-(1)H homonuclear RF decoupling, easy optimization, and applicability to mass-limited samples. The HMQC spectra of surface-bound species can be also acquired under 100 kHz MAS, although the dephasing of transverse magnetization has significant effect on the efficiency transfer under MAS alone.

Organoamine-functionalized graphene oxide as a bifunctional carbocatalyst with remarkable acceleration in a one-pot multistep reaction

In this work, we reported the synthesis of bifunctional carbocatalyst with acid-base dual-activation mechanism by introducing organoamines on the basal planes of graphene oxide (GO). Interestingly, GO-supported primary amine (AP-GO) exclusively promoted one-pot Henry-Michael reactions with excellent activity to give synthetically valuable multifunctionalized nitroalkanes. Notably, it also exhibited significantly higher activity than those using propylamine, activated carbon-supported primary amine, and mesoporous silica-supported primary amine as the catalysts. This superior catalytic performance originated from the unique properties of AP-GO, which provided the acid-base cooperative effect by the appropriate positioning of primary amines on their basal planes and carboxyl acids along their edges and the decreased diffusion resistance of the reactants and the intermediates during the multistep catalytic cycles because of its open two-dimensional sheet-like structure. Moreover, it could be readily recycled by simple filtration and subsequently reused without significant loss of its catalytic activity in a six times run test.

Langevin and fOkker-Planck analyses of inhibited molecular passing processes controlling transport and reactivity in nanoporous materials

Inhibited passing of reactant and product molecules within the linear pores of nanoporous catalytic materials strongly reduces reactivity. The dependence of the passing propensity P on pore radius R is analyzed utilizing Langevin dynamics to account for solvent effects. We find that P ∼ (R-R(c))(σ), where passing is sterically blocked for R≤R(c), with σ below the transition state theory value. Deeper insight comes from analysis of the corresponding high-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation, which facilitates an effective small-P approximation, and dimensional reduction enabling utilization of conformal mapping ideas. We analyze passing for spherical molecules and also assess the effect of rotational degrees of freedom for elongated molecules.

An erbium-based bifuctional heterogeneous catalyst: a cooperative route towards C-C bond formation

Heterogeneous bifuctional catalysts are multifunctional synthetic catalysts enabling efficient organic transformations by exploiting two opposite functionalities without mutual destruction. In this paper we report the first Er(III)-based metallorganic heterogeneous catalyst, synthesized by post-calcination MW-assisted grafting and modification of the natural aminoacid L-cysteine. The natural acid–base distance between sites was maintained to assure the cooperation. The applicability of this new bifunctional heterogeneous catalyst to C-C bond formation and the supposed mechanisms of action are discussed as well.

Fe₃O₄@MOF core-shell magnetic microspheres as excellent catalysts for the Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction

Separation and recycling of catalysts after catalytic reactions are critically required to reduce the cost of catalysts as well as to avoid the generation of waste in industrial applications. In this work, we present a facile fabrication and characterization of a novel type of MOF-based porous catalyst, namely, Fe₃O₄@MIL-100(Fe) core-shell magnetic microspheres. It has been shown that these catalysts not only exhibit high catalytic activities for the Claisen-Schmidt condensation reactions under environmentally friendly conditions, but remarkably, they can be easily separated and recycled without significant loss of catalytic efficiency after being used for many times. Therefore, compared to other reported catalysts used in the Claisen-Schmidt condensation reactions, these catalysts are green, cheap and more suitable for large scale industrial applications.