Construction of Class I Aldolases-like Carboxyl-Controlled-Graphene Oxide Supported 3-Aminopropyl-triethoxysilane Heterogeneous Catalysts for Aldol Reaction

Abstract

Designing catalysts that achieve the rates and selectivities of natural enzymes is a long-standing goal in synthetic chemistry. Herein, the carboxyl-controlled-graphene oxide supported 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (GOn-APTS) heterogeneous catalyts like the class I aldolases with –NH2 and phenolic –OH groups were developed and applied in aldol reaction. The results demonstrate that the amount of –NH2 groups and phenolic –OH groups play important roles of activity and selectivity, respectively. The most efficiency catalyst GO8-APTS shows an excellent conversion of over 90% with a high aldol product selectivity of about 89%. Furthermore, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused at least 5 times without significant loss of the reactivity.