K. Selvam, M. Swaminathan / Tetrahedron Letters 52 (2011) 3386–3392
3387
that of the undoped TiO2 and are identical with the JCPDS pattern
of anatase. This reveals that photodeposition of the platinum does
not modify the basic crystal structure of the TiO2 used. The high-
resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) image of
Pt (1.5%)-TiO2 (Fig. S2) shows non-spherical platinum particles
with an average diameter of 3–12 nm. The electronic state of Pt
in the catalysts was verified by XPS. The XPS survey spectrum
(see Supplementary data, Fig. S3) of the Pt-TiO2 indicates the peaks
of elements Ti, O, C and Pt (trace). High-resolution XPS spectrum
(inset Fig. S3) from 80 to 90 eV confirms the existence of Pt.
Figure S3 shows the binding energies of Pt4f7/2 (70.3 eV) and
Pt4f5/2 (74.0 eV) and the splitting of the 4f doublet (3.7 eV). These
binding energies indicate that platinum is present in metallic state.
The diffuse reflectance spectrum of 1.5% Pt-doped TiO2 is shown in
Figure S4. Pt-TiO2 has higher absorption in the visible region.
Initial experiments were carried out with ethanolic solution of
2-nitrodiphenylamine (1) containing TiO2 nanoparticles under dif-
ferent conditions. Irradiation of 2-nitrodiphenylamine with TiO2 in
ethanol using UV light produced cyclized product of 2-methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole (2).21 Either the irradiation of ethanolic
solution of 2-nitrodiphenylamine alone or the solution of 2-nitro-
diphenylamine and the catalyst without light did not give any
product of our interest. This indicates that both light and TiO2
are essential for the formation of 2-methyl-1-phenylbenzimida-
zole. With pure TiO2 (Table 1, entry 1), 8 h photoirradiation was re-
quired to obtain 75% of product 2 in addition to small amounts of
other reduction products (12%). The structure of product 2 was
confirmed by GC–MS and NMR.22 The percentage yield was deter-
mined by comparison with the retention times of authentic sam-
ples and by co-injection with the authentic compounds. The
main product identified was 2-methyl-1-phenylbenzimidazole. In
contrast, Pt (1.5%)-TiO2 promoted the rapid and selective produc-
tion by achieving 92% yield of product 2 with 4 h irradiation (Ta-
ble 1, entry 4). Higher yield (92%) by Pt-TiO2 with half the time
required for TiO2 reveals the efficiency and selectivity of Pt-TiO2
in this reaction. Best results were obtained with 50 mg of the cat-
alyst. Lower loading resulted in lower yields, while higher loading
did not increase product yields significantly. The percentage yields
of the product with 0.5 and 1 wt % of platinum content are 72.0 and
83.0%, respectively (Table 1, entries 2 and 3). The same reaction
when performed without catalyst for 4 h gave no product. When
the platinum content was increased to 2 wt %, the product yield
decreased to 87.0% (Table 1, entry 5). Hence 1.5 wt % of platinum
was found to be the optimum level. Encouraged by this initial
result, we set out to examine the scope and limitations of this
procedure.
Having completed this optimization study, we proceeded to
investigate the reaction with different alcohols using 2-nitrodiphe-
nylamine (Table 2). Moderate to good yields (40–96%) of 2-substi-
tuted phenylbenzimidazoles were obtained from methanol,
ethanol, propanol and butanol (entries 1–4) under the same condi-
tions. Except in isopropanol, corresponding benzimidazoles were
formed in other alcohols. The yield of benzimidazole in ethanol
was high (96%), whereas the yield of benzimidazole in methanol
was low (40%). The yield decreased from ethanol to butanol (96
to 75%) gradually. Spectral and GC–MS data of the products formed
22
from methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol are given in Ref.
In case of isopropanol, acetone is formed and it is less likely to un-
dergo condensation with 1,2-diamine due to steric effect.13 Hence
only the reduction of nitro group to amine was observed. This reac-
tion was very slow with aromatic alcohols such as benzyl alcohol
and the product formed was less than 5% even for 8 h irradiation.
With the same reaction conditions, we screened a series of
N-arylnitroanilines and N-alkylnitroanilines with alcohols, which
resulted in the formation of either N-arylbenzimidazoles or
N-alkylbenzimidazoles (Table 3). Both 1-aryl- and 1- alkyl -substi-
tuted benzimidazoles were successfully produced in very good
yields. These reactions were carried out with this catalyst under
direct solar light and the results are compared with UV process.
The trend observed in solar light is similar to the one in UV light
(Table 3), but the efficiency is found to be more in UV light than
in solar light.
Semiconductor oxide provides a microheterogeneous center for
oxidation and reduction and so simultaneous oxidation of alcohol
to aldehyde and reduction of nitro to amine group take place. This
is followed by the condensation of amine and aldehyde leading to a
cyclized product. A mechanism for the formation of 2-methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole from 2-nitrodiphenylamine in ethanol is
proposed in Scheme 1. TiO2 on irradiation produces electron and
hole (h+) pair. The h+ oxidizes ethanol to acetaldehyde while the
electron reduces the nitro compound 1 to amino compound 2 on
the surface. Oxidation of alcohol and reduction of nitro group by
semiconductor photocatalyst has been well established.13
Compound 2 undergoes spontaneous condensation with aldehyde
producing a mono imine intermediate 3. Cyclization of this inter-
mediate gives 2-methyl-N-phenylbenzimidazoline 4, which on
Table 1
Table 2
Comparison of catalytic efficiencies for the photocatalytic synthesis of 2-methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole from 2-nitrodiphenylamine
Results obtained on 4h irradiation (365 nm) of 2-nitrodiphenylamine with 1.5% wt
Pt-TiO2 nanoparticles in different alcohols
Conversiona
(%)
Entry Alcohols
Products yield (%)
By
Conversiona
Entry Catalyst
Time Products yield (%)
(h)
By
product
(%)
product (%)
(%)
1
2
3
4
5
Prepared
TiO2
8
4
4
4
4
2-Methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole
(75)
2-Methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole
(72)
2-Methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole
(83)
2-Methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole
(92)
12
87.0
80.0
88.0
96.0
92.0
1
2
3
4
5
2-
2-Methyl-1-
4
9
5
6
4
96
99
80
46
99
Nitrodiphenylamine/ phenylbenzimidazole
ethanol
2-
Nitrodiphenylamine/ phenylbenzimidazole
propanol
2-
Nitrodiphenylamine/ phenylbenzimidazole
butanol
2-
Nitrodiphenylamine/ Phenylbenzimidazole
methanol
2-
(92)
2-Ethyl-1-
Pt (0.5%)
TiO2
8
(90)
2-Propyl-1-
Pt (1.0%)
TiO2
5
(75)
1-
Pt (1.5%)
TiO2
4
(40)
2-
Pt (2.0%)
TiO2
2-Methyl-1-
phenylbenzimidazole
(87)
5
Nitrodiphenylamine/ Aminodiphenylamine
isopropanol (95)
All reactions were performed with a 25 mM ethanolic a reactant 50 mg of catalyst
All reactions were performed with a 25 mM alcoholic solution of a reactant 50 mg
suspension, I = 1.381 Â 10À6 einstein LÀ1 sÀ1
.
of catalyst suspension, I = 1.381 Â 10À6 einstein LÀ1 sÀ1
.
a
a
Remaining nitroaniline.
Remaining nitroaniline.