title: Interface Engineering in Two-Dimensional Heterostructures: Towards an Advanced Catalyst for Ullmann Couplings.
abstract: The design of advanced catalysts for organic reactions is of profound significance. During such processes, electrophilicity and nucleophilicity play vital roles in the activation of chemical bonds and ultimately speed up organic reactions. Herein, we demonstrate a new way to regulate the electro- and nucleophilicity of catalysts for organic transformations. Interface engineering in two-dimensional heteronanostructures triggered electron transfer across the interface. The catalyst was thus rendered more electropositive, which led to superior performance in Ullmann reactions. In the presence of the engineered 2D Cu2 S/MoS2 heteronanostructure, the coupling of iodobenzene and para-chlorophenol gave the desired product in 92 % yield under mild conditions (100 °C). Furthermore, the catalyst exhibited excellent stability as well as high recyclability with a yield of 89 % after five cycles. We propose that interface engineering could be widely employed for the development of new catalysts for organic reactions.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD), Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale (HFNL), Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.|Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenguang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China. czwu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Changzheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: Ullmann reaction; catalysis; electrophilicity; interface engineering; nucleophilicity