Observation of Replacement of Carbon in Benzene with Nitrogen in a Low-Temperature Plasma

Abstract

Selective activation of benzene has been mainly limited to the C-H activation. Simple replacement of one carbon in benzene with another atom remains unresolved due to the high dissociation energy. Herein, we demonstrate a direct breakage of the particularly strong C = C bond in benzene through ion-molecule reaction in a low-temperature plasma, in which one carbon atom was replaced by one atomic nitrogen with the formation of pyridine. The mechanism for the formation of pyridine from benzene has been proposed based on the extensive investigation with tandem mass spectrometry. The reaction pathway also works to other aromatics such as toluene and o-xylene. This finding provides a new avenue for selective conversion of aromatics into nitrogen-containing compounds.

In-Situ Chemical Trapping of Oxygen in the Splitting of Carbon Dioxide by Plasma

“…However, to prevent that dry reforming occurs at high conversions, resulting in the formation of hydrocarbons, the addition of CH 4 should be controlled as a function of the residence time, so that the kinetics favor water production instead of dry reforming. The concept of adding a small amount of reactants is already proven in the production of fine chemicals by plasma, favoring the production of one type of molecule . One possible way to accomplish this is by using a recycle stream, in such a way that the outlet stream is dried (H 2 O is removed) and the CO 2 /CO mixture is separated, so that the separated non‐converted CO 2 can be re‐mixed with a fresh inlet stream containing a hydrogen source.…”

Palladium nanoparticles supported on amine-functionalized SiO2 for the catalytic hexavalent chromium reduction

“…3(a) shows the survey XPS survey spectrum of Pd@SiO 2 -NH 2 that reveals the existence of SiO 2 -NH 2 elements (Si, N, C, O) and Pd in the sample. The deconvulation of Pd 3d XPS spectrum gives distinctive peaks at 334.5 and 339.8 eV, which can readily be assigned to Pd 0 3d 5/2 and Pd 0 3d 3/2 , respectively for metallic palladium (Pd(0)) [38]. The peaks observed at 336.9 and 341.9 eV can be attributed to Pd 2+ 3d 5/2 and Pd 2+ 3d 3/2 , respectively and reveals the presence of PdO, which may originate from the surface oxidation of palladium(0) nanoparticles during the XPS sampling procedure [39].…”

Gas-phase amination of aromatic hydrocarbons by corona discharge-assisted nitrogen fixation

“…Similar reactions were also observed by Hiraoka’s group 13 . Zhang’s group 14 observed that, in low-temperature plasma, one carbon atom in benzene could be directly replaced with nitrogen atom producing pyridine through gas phase ion/molecule reaction. The underlying reaction pathway was proposed to involve a carbon replacement with N-containing species and the ring-opening and closing reactions.…”