Tridoped Mesoporous Carbon as a Metal-Free Catalyst for Ammoxidation of (Hetero)Aromatic Alcohols to Nitriles

Ammoxidation of alcohols is a promising cyanide-freestrategy forthe synthesis of organic nitriles. It is desirable but challengingto conduct nitrile synthesis over a heterogeneous metal-free catalystwith aqueous ammonia as a nitrogen source and molecular oxygen asan oxidant. In the present work, an Se,P,N-tridoped carbon nanomaterial(Se,P,N/CN-900) was prepared and used as a metal-free catalyst forthe direct ammoxidation of alcohols to nitriles with aqueous ammoniaand molecular oxygen. The synergistic effect was revealed for thehighly efficient catalytic performance of the tridoped carbon catalyst.The present catalyst showed good stability, and various (hetero)aromaticalcohols can be converted to the corresponding nitriles with highyields. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to achieveammoxidation of alcohols to nitriles with a high efficiency over multidopedcarbon materials.

Automated summary

In this study, a Se,P,N-tridoped carbon nanomaterial (Se,P,N/CN-900) was successfully prepared and used as a metal-free catalyst for the direct ammoxidation of alcohols to nitriles with aqueous ammonia and molecular oxygen. The tridoped carbon catalyst exhibited highly efficient catalytic performance and good stability, enabling the conversion of various (hetero)aromatic alcohols to corresponding nitriles with high yields. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to achieve ammoxidation of alcohols to nitriles with a high efficiency over multidoped carbon materials.