The Unexpected Reactivity of the Carbon Sites on the Nanostructured Carbon Catalysts towards the C-H Bond Activation from the Analysis of the Aromaticity

It is believed that the oxygen groups on the carbon catalysts are responsible for the observed reactivity for C-H bond activations. On the other hand, the oxygen groups also reduce the aromaticity of the host. The loss of the aromaticity increases reactivities of the carbon atoms and they become the active sites for the C-H bond activation. The newly identified C-C site exhibits the comparable catalytic performance in the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of propane compared with the conventional oxygen groups like quinone and ketone. A series of calculations indicate that the aromaticity might be a useful descriptor for the carbon catalysts.