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The first example of a heterogeneous cobalt catalytic system for Wacker-type oxidation catalyzed by a single atom dispersed Co–N/C catalyst using alcohol as the hydrogen source under an oxygen atmosphere is presented. By combining a well-designed, controlled experiment and various methods of characterization, we determined that single atom cobalt was the active center rather than nanoparticle or oxide counterparts.

Metal (Al, Ti, Zr) triflate grafted mesoporous SBA-15 (AlTf/S, TiTf/S, ZrTf/S) samples were synthesized as inexpensive solid acid materials by a simple one-pot-two-step synthesis methodology. These materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2-sorption, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), in-situpyridine FT-IR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. ZrTf/S was found to be a highly efficient and reusable solid acid catalyst for ring opening of epoxides with amines and alcohols and produced β-amino alcohols and β-alkoxy alcohols respectively under ambient reaction conditions. The ZrTf/S catalyst showed the highest activity, which was attributed to its high acidity compared with that of the Ti and Al containing samples.

A high-efficiency and atom-economic synthetic strategy for nitriles by aerobic ammoxidation of alcohols is developed using a novel mesoporous cobalt-coordinated nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst (meso-Co–N/C) fabricated from a cobalt-coordinating polymer, which manifests superior activity towards the target reaction. The catalytic system features a broad substrate scope for various benzylic, allylic as well as heterocyclic alcohols, providing good to excellent yields of the target products with high selectivities, albeit with 0.5 mol% Co catalyst loading. 11,11′-Bis(dipyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazinyl) (bidppz) with extreme thermostability is selected as a robust ligand bridge between cobalt ions, resulting in the homogeneous distribution of active sites at the atomic or subnanoscale level and high catalyst yield. Silica colloid or ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15 is employed to realize the mesoporous structure. The unprecedented performance of the meso-Co–N/C catalyst is attributed to its high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area (up to 680 m2g−1) with a well-controlled mesoporous structure and homogeneous distribution of active sites. Kinetic analysis demonstrates that the catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde is the turnover-limiting step and that the apparent activation energy for benzonitrile synthesis is 61.5 kJ mol−1and cationic species are involved in the reaction.

Over metal catalysts, N‐heteroarenes, as one of the most versatile building blocks in pharmaceuticals, bioactive molecules and natural products, can be easily accessed by the oxidation of N‐heterocycles. Herein, we describe N‐doped hierarchical pore carbons (N‐HPCs) derived from readily available biomass (flour) efficiently catalyzed aerobic dehydrogenation of N‐heterocycles without any additives under mild conditions, owing to N dopant and high surface area indicated by characterization analysis. A wide range of N‐heteroarenes including quinolines, quinolinol, dihydroisoquinolines, isoquinolines, indoles, quinoxaline and acridine were obtained in good to excellent yields (36 examples, up to 99% yield). Mechanistic studies revealed a strikingly different non‐free radical process from metal catalysts, for which an apparent activation energy of 66.4 kJ mol−1was found. Moreover, the N‐doped carbon exhibited robust stability and yielded 74.5% quinoline at the sixth reaction. The use of metal‐free catalysts in organic synthesis is attractive but practically challenging. This work provides a promising example for metal‐free catalysis. N‐doped hierarchicalpore carbons derived from biomass can efficiently catalyze the aerobic dehydrogenation of saturated N‐heterocycles and hydrocarbons without any additives with molecular oxygen as the sole oxidant, owing to N dopant and high surface area. The metal‐free approach underwent a distinctive non‐free radical process different from previous metal‐based catalyst systems.