Cobalt encapsulated in N‑doped graphene sheet for one-pot reductive amination to synthesize secondary amines

Ruthenium-catalyzed reductive amination of ketones with nitroarenes and nitriles

The Ru(dppbsa)-catalyzed reductive amination of ketones with nitroarenes and nitriles using H₂ as the environmentally benign hydrogen surrogate is developed in this study. Cross-experiments demonstrated that both reactions are initiated by the reduction of nitroarenes or nitriles to the corresponding amines, followed by condensation with ketones to give imines and thereafter hydrogenation. However, the route to the formation of an amino-ligated Ru complex during the reduction of nitroarenes or nitriles, followed by in situ nucleophilic C-N coupling, cannot be completely excluded. This newly developed versatile method features good functional group tolerance, which provides a novel design platform for homogeneous catalysts in constructing motifs of secondary amines.

A Novel Tannic Acid-Based Carbon-Supported Cobalt Catalyst for Transfer Hydrogenation of Biomass Derived Ethyl Levulinate

The catalytic conversion of ethyl levulinate (EL) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) is an important intermediate reaction in the conversion and utilization of biomass resources. The development of novel and efficient catalysts is significantly important for this reaction. In this work, using the biomass-derived tannic acid as carbon precursor and the transition metal cobalt as active component, a novel tannic acid carbon supported cobalt catalyst (Co/TAC) was prepared by pyrolysis and subsequent hydrazine hydrate reduction method. The hydrogenation of EL and other carbonyl compounds by hydrogen transfer reaction was used to evaluate the performance of the catalysts. The effects of different preparation and reaction conditions on the performance of the catalysts were investigated, and the structures of the prepared catalysts were characterized in detail. The results showed that the carbonization temperature of the support had a significant effect on the activity of the catalyst for the reaction. Under the optimized conditions, the Co/TAC-900 catalyst obtained the highest GVL yield of 91.3% under relatively mild reaction conditions. Furthermore, the prepared catalyst also showed high efficiency for the hydrogenation of various ketone compounds with different structures. This work provides a new reference for the construction of the catalysts during the conversion of biomass and a potential pathway for the high-value utilization of tannin resource.