Co@N-graphene/C Catalyzed Oxidative Amination of Toluene Derivatives

The development of core-shell nanocatalysts has been intensively pursued. Here, we present the preparation, characterization and catalytic performance exploration of Co@N-graphene/C catalysts obtained via pyrolysis of cobalt acetate and phenanthroline. The Co@N-graphene/C catalysts showed high activity in the selectively reductive-oxidative amination of toluene and nitrobenzene for N-alkyl amines syntheses with excellent functional groups tolerance in the co-presence of oxidant and reductant, i.e., TBHP and H 2 . The generality of the catalyst system, and also the reaction mechanism were investigated. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) characterizations indicate that a thickness of graphene shells about 1.12~1.87 nm around nanocobalt oxide particles. Meanwhile, the XPS characterization unravels the electronic interaction between the graphitic N and cobalt oxide nanoparticles. These results might promote the development of efficient heterogeneous catalysts for nitrogen containing fine chemical synthesis.