This year, two scientific articles entitled “Mild and selective transformations of amines and alcohols through bioinspired oxidation with nitrous oxide or oxygen” with a biomimetic ruthenium catalyst (highlighted on the Back Cover of Issue 6). And, “Bioinspired copper-catalysed nitrous oxide reduction with simultaneous N–H or O–H bond oxidation” (highlighted on the Front Cover of Issue 22) were published in the chemical scientific journal Catalysis Science & Technology. These articles are outcomes of the collaborations of the AHI and the University of Lisbon.
The projects report on the one hand on the selective conversion of organic amines to nitriles or imines, respectively, and on the selective oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes at low temperature with a ruthenium catalyst. On the other hand, it has been made possible to oxidise methanol in presence of amines resulting in the formation of aminals with a copper catalyst.
The above mentioned oxygen and nitrogen containing organic compounds are found in natural products, pharmaceuticals, and have many applications in industrial organic chemistry. Some of those are of interest for the production of consumer goods like flavours or fragrances, such as benzaldehyde with its characteristic almond-like smell and taste. These compounds are also of particular interest for natural product synthesis and material synthesis.
In addition, the greenhouse gas (GHG) nitrous oxide served as oxidant and has been simultaneously decomposed to nitrogen gas (major inert gas in atmospheric air) and water. Nitrous oxide, a natural and anthropogenic GHG (1 kg N2O ≈ 300 kg CO2) can be decomposed in this way simultaneously.
These approaches provide a dual benefit, on the one hand the GHG decomposed and on the other hand, useful organic compounds are obtained at low temperature and short reaction times which implies less energy consumption.
The protocols may find further applications in the broad field of sustainable synthesis.
The related articles and covers can be accessed under the following DOI links below:
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CY00760C (copper catalysis; open access article with a free account)
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CY90092H (front cover)
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CY01635H (ruthenium catalysis; open access article)
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CY90022G (back cover)