Reversible aerobic oxidative dehydrogenation/hydrogenation of N-heterocycles over AlN supported redox cobalt catalysts

Abstract N-heterocycles with quinoline and tetrahydroquinoline structures are highly important in pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and their highly efficient mutual transformations are vital but still challenging. In the present work, AlN supported redox cobalt catalysts (Co3O4/AlN and Co/AlN) were prepared, which could achieve the reversible aerobic oxidative dehydrogenation/hydrogenation of N-heterocycles with good performances. The catalytic performances were stem from the strong interaction between Co species with AlN support, which were confirmed by the characterizations of Raman, XPS, UV–vis DRS, and H2-TPR etc. Both of the catalysts showed good stabilities and reusabilities for the titled reactions. Besides, the gram-scale experiments achieved with good yields to corresponding products, revealing the present protocol possesses great potential applications in industry. The strategy of using redox Co-based catalyst not only provides a potential catalyst for the reversible hydrogenation/oxidative dehydrogenation reactions but also replenishes methods for constructing of other redox catalyst, especially with AlN as a carrier.