A sustainable avenue for the synthesis of propargylamines and benzofurans using a Cu-functionalized MIL-101(Cr) as a reusable heterogeneous catalyst

A heterogeneous copper-catalyzed A3 coupling reaction of aldehydes, amines, and alkynes for the synthesis of propargylamines and benzofurans has been developed. Here, the modified metal-organic framework MIL-101(Cr)-SB-Cu complex was chosen as the heterogeneous copper catalyst and prepared via post-synthetic modification of amino-functionalized MIL-101(Cr). The structure, morphology, thermal stability, and copper content of the catalyst were determined by FT-IR, PXRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, TGA, XPS, and ICP-OES. The catalyst shows high catalytic activity for the aforementioned reactions under solvent-free reaction conditions. High yields, low catalyst loading, easy catalyst recovery and reusability with not much shrink in catalytic activity, and a good yield of 82% in gram-scale synthesis are some of the benefits of this protocol that drove it towards sustainability.

Catalytic behaviour of the Cu(i)/L/TEMPO system for aerobic oxidation of alcohols - a kinetic and predictive model

Here, we disclose a new copper(i)-Schiff base complex series for selective oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes under benign conditions. The catalytic protocol involves 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPO), N-methylimidazole (NMI), ambient air, acetonitrile, and room temperature. This system provides a straightforward and rapid pathway to a series of Schiff bases, particularly, the copper(i) complexes bearing the substituted (furan-2-yl)imine bases N-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-(furan-2-yl)methanimine (L2) and N-(2-fluoro-4-nitrophenyl)-1-(furan-2-yl)methanimine (L4) have shown excellent yields. Both benzylic and aliphatic alcohols were converted to aldehydes selectively with 99% yield (in 1-2 h) and 96% yield (in 16 h). The mechanistic studies via kinetic analysis of all components demonstrate that the ligand type plays a key role in reaction rate. The basicity of the ligand increases the electron density of the metal center, which leads to higher oxidation reactivity. The Hammett plot shows that the key step does not involve H-abstraction. Additionally, a generalized additive model (GAM, including random effect) showed that it was possible to correlate reaction composition with catalytic activity, ligand structure, and substrate behavior. This can be developed in the form of a predictive model bearing in mind numerous reactions to be performed or in order to produce a massive data-set of this type of oxidation reaction. The predictive model will act as a useful tool towards understanding the key steps in catalytic oxidation through dimensional optimization while reducing the screening of statistically poor active catalysis.

Metal-free oxidative coupling of quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones with arylaldehydes leading to 3-acylated quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones

An efficient protocol for the synthesis of 3-aroylquinoxalin-2(1H)-ones has been developed via a metal-free oxidative cross-coupling reaction of quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones with aryl aldehydes under mild conditions with good yields.

Template synthesis of hierarchical porous metal–organic frameworks with tunable porosity

A versatile method to synthesize various stable hierarchical porous metal–organic frameworks, such as Cu–BTC and ZIF–8, by using an organic amine as the template.

Tuneable nature of metal organic frameworks as heterogeneous solid catalysts for alcohol oxidation

This Feature article describes on the recent developments in the use of metal organic frameworks as heterogeneous solid catalysts for the selective alcohol oxidation by either tuning the actives sites around the metal centre, or anchoring them on the ligands or using the pores to embed metal nanoparticles inside.