Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Confined in Doped Mesoporous Carbons: A Strategy to Produce Catalysts for Imine Synthesis

A group of doped carbon materials weresynthesized by ahard template using starch as a carbon precursor. Ceria nanoparticles(NPs) were confined into these carbonaceous structures and used ascatalysts for imine formation via oxidative coupling. The controlof the ceria NP size, the presence of Ce3+ cations, andan increment in the disorder in the ceria NP structure caused by asupport-ceria interaction could increase the number of oxygenvacancies and improve its catalytic performance. A group of (doped N or P) carbons were synthesized usingsolublestarch as a carbon precursor. Further, ceria nanoparticles (NPs) wereconfined into these (doped) carbon materials. The obtained solidswere characterized by various techniques such as N-2 physisorption,XRD, TEM, SEM, XPS, and XAS. These materials were used as catalystsfor the oxidative coupling between benzyl alcohol and aniline as themodel reaction. Ceria immobilized on mesoporous-doped carbon showshigher activity than the other materials, benchmark catalysts, andmost of the previously reported catalysts. The control of the ceriaNP size, the presence of Ce3+ cations, and an incrementin the disorder in the ceria NP structure caused by a support-ceriainteraction could increase the number of oxygen vacancies and improveits catalytic performance. CN-meso/CeO2 was also used asthe catalyst for a rich scope of substrates, such as substituted aromaticalcohols, linear alcohols, and different types of amines. The influenceof various reaction parameters (substrate content, reaction temperature,and catalyst content) on the activity of this catalyst was also checked.

Automated summary

A group of doped carbon materials were synthesized using starch as a carbon precursor, and ceria nanoparticles were embedded in these carbon structures to serve as catalysts for imine formation via oxidative coupling. The control of ceria nanoparticle size, presence of Ce3+ cations, and disorder in the ceria nanoparticle structure caused by support-ceria interaction led to an increase in oxygen vacancies and improved catalytic performance.