DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201402916
Communications
Ordered Hexagonal Mesoporous Aluminosilicates and
their Application in Ligand-Free Synthesis of Secondary
Amines
Pavuluri Srinivasu,*[a] Dupati Venkanna,[a] Mannepalli Lakshmi Kantam,[a] Jing Tang,[b]
Suresh K. Bhargava,[c] Ali Aldalbahi,[d] Kevin C.-W. Wu,*[e] and Yusuke Yamauchi*[b, d]
A new facile synthesis of ordered mesoporous aluminosilicates
has been developed and applied for the efficient catalytic syn-
thesis of N-benzyl secondary amines under ligand and base-
free conditions. The MAS(38) catalyst with a well-ordered
mesoporous structure and strong acidic sites was used for
acid-catalyzed organic transformations and its operational sim-
plicity and ease of its isolation procedure make it an attractive
alternative to current methodologies.
transition metal complexes have been used as homogeneous
catalysts for synthesizing secondary amines in the presence of
base additives, which retard the commercialization of the pro-
cess because of high cost and environmental concerns.[5–7]
The use of heterogeneous catalysts[8–12] offers several advan-
tages over homogeneous catalysts, including ease of separat-
ing reactants, minimal trace metal in the products, ease of
handling, process control, and reusability of catalysts. These
advantages can thus improve reaction processes. Therefore,
developing an environmentally friendly and recyclable hetero-
geneous catalytic system for synthesizing secondary amines is
of considerable interest. Heterogeneous catalysts such as Fe/
amino acids, Fe3O4, and Fe3O4/tBuOÀ have been used for the
synthesis of secondary amines,[12,13] however, these systems
suffer from complicated synthesis procedures and low activity
compared with precious metal complexes.
N-alkyl secondary amine derivatives linked to herbicides and
pharmaceuticals have been demonstrated as numerous biolog-
ically active compounds for drug discovery.[1] N-benzyl secon-
dary amines, in particular, have attracted considerable atten-
tion from both biological and organic chemists. This is because
they appear as carboxamide derivatives, which are the most
prevalent structural moieties in medicinal chemistry.[2] Howev-
er, despite widespread interest, the most common strategies
for the production of secondary amines such as electrophilic
alkylation, reductive alkylation, and amination of aryl halides,
often exhibit limitations such as low selectivity toward desired
secondary amines, harsh reaction conditions, and stoichiomet-
ric amounts of wasteful salts.[3,4] In addition, various expensive
[Ru3(CO)7] cluster, [Ir(COD)Cl] dimer, rhodium, and platinum
In recent years, mesoporous materials have demonstrated
their potential in solar cells, fuel cells, and drug delivery sys-
tems.[14–21] In addition, mesoporous materials have been in-
creasingly applied as heterogeneous catalysts in various organ-
ic transformations because of their unique structural and tex-
tural properties such as controllable pore size, uniform pore-
size distribution, high thermal stability, and ultrahigh specific
surface area.[22,23] Among various heterogeneous catalysts, alu-
minosilicates have been considered useful solid catalysts be-
cause of their usage as effective catalysts in aldol, Friedel–
Crafts, and Diels–Alder reactions.[24,25] However, based on our
knowledge, no studies have synthesized secondary amines by
using mesoporous aluminosilicate catalysts.
[a] Dr. P. Srinivasu, Dr. D. Venkanna, Dr. M. L. Kantam
Inorganic and Physical Chemistry Division
CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology
Hyderabad-500007 (India)
We present a facile synthesis of mesoporous aluminosilicate
materials with highly ordered two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal
structures (denoted as MAS) through direct hydrothermal syn-
thesis. The synthesized MAS were further used as solid cata-
lysts for efficiently catalyzing the synthesis of secondary
amines through CÀN bond formation between benzyl alcohol
and aniline (Scheme 1). The MAS catalyst showed an excellent
yield of secondary amines with high reusability of the catalyst
for several cycles.
[b] J. Tang, Prof. Y. Yamauchi
World Premier International (WPI) Research Center
for Materials Nanoarchitectonics
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044 (Japan)
[c] Prof. S. K. Bhargava
Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry Group
School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University
Melbourne-3001 (Australia)
[d] Prof. A. Aldalbahi, Prof. Y. Yamauchi
The MAS samples were prepared using a triblock copolymer
Department of Chemistry, College of Science
King Saud University, Riyadh 11451 (Saudi Arabia)
(Pluronic P123, EO20PO70EO20, molecular weight=5800 gmolÀ1
)
as a structure-directing agent.[26,27] Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)
and aluminum isopropoxide (AlIP) were used as silicon and
aluminum sources, respectively. Typically, P123 (2.0 g) was dis-
solved in a hydrochloric acid solution (72.0 g) and stirred at
room temperature for 10 h. The AlIP in the hydrochloric acid
solution and TEOS were added to the mixture. The resulting
[e] Prof. K. C.-W. Wu
Department of Chemical Engineering
National Taiwan University
No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617 (Taiwan)
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