Catalytic Epoxidation Reaction over N-Containing sp2 Carbon Catalysts

Nitrogen-doped graphene treated with ammonia under different temperatures was used as the catalysts for the epoxidation of trans-stilbene and styrene at 373 K. NG-800 (N-doped graphene treated at 800 C for 8 h) performed the best and gave the highest recyclable catalytic activity for the epoxidation of trans-stilbene, with 95.8% conversion and 94.4% selectivity to trans-stilbene epoxide. The catalytic center has been identified with the reaction mechanism elucidated by DFT calculation.