A New Route to Cyclohexanone using H 2 CO 3 as a Molecular Catalytic Ligand to Boost the Thorough Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes over Pd Nanocatalysts

• Published in: ChemCatChem
• Main Authors: Zhao, Tian‐Jian, Zhang, Jun‐Jun, Zhang, Bing, Liu, Yong‐Xing, Lin, Yun‐Xiao, Wang, Hong‐Hui, Su, Hui, Li, Xin‐Hao, Chen, Jie‐Sheng
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2019
• Subjects: Carbonic acid
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201900389; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fcctc.201900389; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/cctc.201900389; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/cctc.201900389

Abstract Carbon dioxide has been important in green chemistry, especially in catalytic and chemical engineering applications. While exploring CO 2 to produce cyclohexanone for nylon or nylon 66 that is currently produced with low yields using harsh catalytic methods, we made the exciting discovery that carbonic acid, generated from dissolved CO 2 in water, was utilized as molecular catalytic ligand to produce cyclohexanone via the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution that uses Pd catalysts with a total yield higher than 90 %. Importantly, the gaseous nature of catalytic ligand H 2 CO 3 profoundly simplifies post‐catalysis cleanup unlike liquid or solid catalysts. This new green catalysis strategy demonstrated the universality for hydrogenation of aromatic compounds like aniline and N‐methylaniline and could be broadly applicable in other catalytic field like artificial photosynthesis and electrocatalytic organic synthesis.