Nanocarbons as Catalyst for Selective Oxidation of Acrolein to Acrylic Acid

Selective oxidations are key steps of industrial oil and gas processing for the synthesis of high-value chemicals. Mixed metal oxides based on redox active V or Mo are frequently used for oxidative C–H bond activation. However, multiple processes require precious metals or suffer from low product selectivity demanding an ongoing search for cost-effective alternatives. Recently, the nanostructured carbon was reported to catalyze the metal-free selective alkane activation by oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH).[1,2] Electron-rich surface carbonyls coordinate this reaction and mimic the active oxygen species in metal oxide catalysts.[3-5] Here we show that the graphitic carbon, beyond ODH, has the potential to selectively mediate the insertion of an oxygen atom into an organic molecule, i.e., acrolein. Multi-step atom rearrangements considerably exceed the mechanistic complexity of hydrogen abstraction and were so far believed to be the exclusive domain of metal (oxide) catalysis. In the carbon catalyzed process, the nucleophilic oxygen atoms terminating the graphite (0001) surface abstract the formyl hydrogen and the activated aldehyde gets oxidized by epoxide-type mobile oxygen, thus the sp2 carbon acts as a bifunctional catalyst. Substantial similarities between the metal oxide- and carbon-catalyzed reactions could be identified. Our results shed light on a rarely known facet of applications of nanostructured carbon materials being decorated with diverse oxygen functionalities to coordinate complex catalytic processes. We could successfully transfer the results obtained from the graphite model to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) providing a higher surface area, defect density, and intrinsic activity, to substantially increase the reactivity per catalyst volume. Indeed, low dimensional nanostructured carbon is a highly flexible and robust material which can be modified in a multiple manner to optimize its properties with respect to the intended application. The exploration of fundamental similarities and differences in catalysis by metal (oxides) remains a significant challeng