Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and spin trapping were used to explore the mechanism of alcohol oxidation over gold catalysts. Reaction of secondary alcohols with supported and unsupported gold catalysts (e.g., Au/CeO(2), polymer-incarcerated Au nanoparticles, PPh(3)-protected Au nanoparticles) in the presence of spin traps led to the formation of a hydrogen spin adduct. Using isotope labeling, we confirmed that the hydrogen in the spin adduct originates from the cleavage of the C-H bond in the alcohol molecule. The formation of the hydrogen spin adduct most likely results from the abstraction of hydrogen from the Au surface by a spin trap. These results thus strongly suggest intermediate formation of Au-H species during alcohol oxidation. The role of oxygen in this mechanism is to restore the catalytic activity rather than oxidize alcohol. This was further confirmed by carrying out gold-catalyzed alcohol oxidation in the absence of oxygen, with nitroxides as hydrogen abstractors. The support (e.g., metal oxides) can activate oxygen and act as an H abstractor from the gold surface and hence lead to a faster recovery of the activity. Peroxyl radicals were also observed during alcohol oxidation, consistent with a free-radical autoxidation mechanism. However, this mechanism is likely to be a minor side reaction, which does not lead to the formation of an appreciable amount of oxidation products.

Lock up your gold: Polymer‐incarcerated gold nanoclusters (PI Au) were synthesized by microencapsulation of gold nanoclusters and cross‐linking using a copolymer based on polystyrene (see TEM image). The nanoclusters could be used to catalyze the aerobic oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones under atmospheric conditions at room temperature, and additionally could be reused with little loss of activity.

Considering the importance of the development of powerful green catalysts and the omnipresence of amide bonds in natural and synthetic compounds, we report here on reactions between alcohols and amines for amide bond formation in which heterogeneous gold and gold/iron, -nickel, or -cobalt nanoparticles are used as catalysts and molecular oxygen is used as terminal oxidant. Two catalysts show excellent activity and selectivity, depending on the type of alcohols used. A wide variety of alcohols and amines, including aqueous ammonia and amino acids, can be used for the amide synthesis. Furthermore, the catalysts can be recovered and reused several times without loss of activity.

We have discovered a new class of cooperative catalytic system, consisting of heterogeneous polymer-immobilized bimetallic Pt/Ir alloyed nanoclusters (NCs) and 4-tert-butylcatechol, for the aerobic oxidation of amines to imines under ambient conditions. After optimization, the desired imines were obtained in good to excellent yields with broad substrate scope. The reaction rate was determined to be first-order with respect to the substrate and catechol and zero-order for the alloyed Pt/Ir NC catalyst. Control studies revealed that both the heterogeneous NC catalyst and 4-tert-butylcatechol are essential and act cooperatively to facilitate the aerobic oxidation under mild conditions.

Chiral ligand-modified metal nanoparticles possess an attractive potential for application in asymmetric synthesis. This article focuses on chiral-nanoparticle-catalyzed asymmetric C-C bond formation reactions and discusses the nature of the active species.

Hydrogenation of arenes is an important reaction not only for hydrogen storage and transport but also for the synthesis of functional molecules such as pharmaceuticals and biologically active compounds. Here, we describe the development of heterogeneous Rh-Pt bimetallic nanoparticle catalysts for the hydrogenation of arenes with inexpensive polysilane as support. The catalysts could be used in both batch and continuous-flow systems with high performance under mild conditions and showed wide substrate generality. In the continuous-flow system, the product could be obtained by simply passing the substrate and 1 atm H through a column packed with the catalyst. Remarkably, much higher catalytic performance was observed in the flow system than in the batch system, and extremely strong durability under continuous-flow conditions was demonstrated (>50 days continuous run; turnover number >3.4 × 10). Furthermore, details of the reaction mechanisms and the origin of different kinetics in batch and flow were studied, and the obtained knowledge was applied to develop completely selective arene hydrogenation of compounds containing two aromatic rings toward the synthesis of an active pharmaceutical ingredient.

Selective oxidation of alcohols catalyzed by novel carbon-stabilized polymer-incarcerated bimetallic nanocluster catalysts using molecular oxygen has been developed. The reactivity and the selectivity were strongly dependent on the combination of metals and solvent systems; aldehydes and ketones were obtained by the gold/platinum catalyst in benzotrifluoride, and esters were formed by the gold/palladium catalyst in methanol. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example that the reaction pathway has been changed dramatically in gold catalysis by combining with a second metal. The differences in the activity and the selectivity are considered to be derived from the difference in the structure of the bimetallic clusters.

We describe the use of chiral metal nanoparticle systems, as novel heterogeneous chiral catalysts for the asymmetric 1,4-addition of arylboronic acids to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, as representative C-C bond-forming reactions. The reactions proceeded smoothly to afford the corresponding β-arylated products in high to excellent yields and outstanding enantioselectivities with wide substrate scope. Remarkably, the nanoparticle catalysts showed performance in terms of yield, enantioselectivity, and catalytic turnover that was superior to that of the corresponding homogeneous metal complexes. The catalyst can be successfully recovered and reused in a gram-scale synthesis with low catalyst loading without significant loss of activity. The nature of the active species was investigated, and we found that characteristic features of the nanoparticle system were totally different from those of the metal complex system.