Premium
A State‐of‐the‐Art Heterogeneous Catalyst for Efficient and General Nitrile Hydrogenation
Author(s) -
Formenti Dario,
Mocci Rita,
Atia Hanan,
Dastgir Sarim,
Anwar Muhammad,
Bachmann Stephan,
Scalone Michelangelo,
Junge Kathrin,
Beller Matthias
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.202001866
Subject(s) - nitrile , catalysis , cobalt , chemistry , carbon fibers , pyrolysis , noble metal , oxide , nanoparticle , organic chemistry , materials science , nanotechnology , composite number , composite material
Cobalt‐doped hybrid materials consisting of metal oxides and carbon derived from chitin were prepared, characterized and tested for industrially relevant nitrile hydrogenations. The optimal catalyst supported onto MgO showed, after pyrolysis at 700 °C, magnesium oxide nanocubes decorated with carbon‐enveloped Co nanoparticles. This special structure allows for the selective hydrogenation of diverse and demanding nitriles to the corresponding primary amines under mild conditions (e.g. 70 °C, 20 bar H 2 ). The advantage of this novel catalytic material is showcased for industrially important substrates, including adipodinitrile, picolinonitrile, and fatty acid nitriles. Notably, the developed system outperformed all other tested commercial catalysts, for example, Raney Nickel and even noble‐metal‐based systems in these transformations.