Mechanistic insights into the roles of graphene oxide and its derivatives in organic transformations – a review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Graphene oxide (GO) and functionalized graphene oxide (fGO), owing to their vast range of advantages, including simple preparation, low cost, recyclability, reusability, remarkable optical, electronic, and mechanical properties and the fact that they are environmentally friendly, have attracted considerable attention in heterogeneous catalytic systems during the past decades. The various catalytic activities displayed by GO and fGO result from the synergistic effects caused by their large surface area and the vast number of functional groups or nanoparticles bound to their plane. In this review, we investigate main mechanistic roles played by GO and fGO in chemical reactions. Contributing to oxidation, hydration, reduction and carbon–carbon coupling reactions, acting as acidic catalysts, nucleophiles, electrophiles, π-electron-rich adsorbing supports, photoacatalysts, and phase transfer catalysts, GO and fGO are employed in plenty of organic transformations. As the main goal of the review, we present a comprehensive overview on GO- and fGO-based reactions classified by the mechanistic roles of these carbocatalyst systems to provide insight into the design and development of novel carbon-based catalysts displaying improved performance.