Recently, Professor Zhang Zehui’s research team from the School of Chemistry and Materials Science at SCMU has made significant progress in Lewis acid site-catalyzed alcohol hydrogen transfer and alkylation C-N/C-C bond coupling. On August 15, their research paperEnable biomass-derived alcohols mediated alkylation and transfer hydrogenationwas published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51307-8), with Professor Zhang as the sole corresponding author.
Carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds form the fundamental skeleton of organic compounds, crucial in natural products, pharmaceuticals, and materials. Traditional methods for C-C bond construction include the Grignard, Diels-Alder, Wittig, and Aldol reactions. Modern developments increasingly rely on transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, which, despite their versatility, often use expensive and toxic reagents. The use of inexpensive and non-toxic alcohols as electrophilic reagents has garnered significant attention in green manufacturing.
The paper reports on a single-atom Zn catalyst with a Zn-N4 structure, prepared by pyrolysis of ZIF-8, for the α-alkylation of nitriles with biomass-derived alcohols. This catalyst demonstrates broad applicability in C-alkylation of various compounds, N-alkylation of amines and amides, and various transfer hydrogenation reactions. It represents the first highly efficient single-atom catalyst using biomass-derived alcohols as both alkylating agents and hydrogen donors for various organic transformations.
Single-atom Zn-catalyzed hydrogen transfer and alkylation reactions.
Image provided by the School of Chemistry and Materials Science
Professor Zhang’s team has long focused on “green chemistry”, designing novel catalytic reaction systems for renewable biomass energy chemistry, green organic synthesis, and heterogeneous catalysis. Their recent publications in top international journals like Nature Communications, Science Advances, and JACS have significantly impacted the fields of biomass catalytic conversion and green chemistry.
