title: Bifunctional Mesoporous Carbon Nitride: Highly Efficient Enzyme-like Catalyst for One-pot Deacetalization-Knoevenagel Reaction.
abstract: Recently, mesoporous carbon nitride (MCN) has aroused extensive interest for its potential applications in organocatalysis, photo- and electrochemistry and CO2 capture. However, further surface functionalization of MCN for advanced nanomaterials and catalysis still remains very challenging. Here we show that acidic carboxyl groups can be smoothly introduced onto the surface of well-ordered MCN without annihilation between the introduced acid groups and MCN's inherent basic groups through a facile UV light oxidation method. The functionalization generates a novel bifunctional nanocatalyst which offers an enzyme-like catalytic performance in the one-pot deacetalization-Knoevenagel reaction of benzaldehyde dimethylacetal and malononitrile with 100% conversion and more than 99% selectivity due to the cooperative catalysis between the acid and base groups separated on the surface of the catalyst. The results provide a general method to create multifunctional nanomaterials and open new opportunities for the development of high efficient catalyst for green organic synthesis.
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia [2] College of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Chokkalingam
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Kripal Singh
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Lakhi
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Ajayan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vinu