Selective N-formylation of amines catalysed by Ag NPs festooned over amine functionalized SBA-15 utilizing CO2 as C1 source

Abstract

N-formylation of amines using CO2 as C1 source has been an uphill transformation in the catalysis research as it involves the utilization of abundant thermodyanamically stable and kinetically inert CO2 to form the N-formylated products, which are potential intermediates for the synthesis of valuable chemicals. Previously various noble as well as non-noble metal nanoparticles have been employed for N-formylation of amines. However, herein for the first time we explored N-formylation reaction under lenient conditions utilizing silver nanoparticles, which are decorated over amine functionalized periodically ordered 2D-hexagonal SBA-15 material, serving as a robust heterogeneous catalyst. The AgNPs@SBA-15-NH2 has been intensively characterized by powder XRD, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), FEG-TEM, SEM, XPS, TGA, CO2-TPD, FTIR and UV–vis spectroscopic analyses. This supported AgNPs material showed remarkable catalytic activity for N-formylation over a wide range of amines under 0.5 MPa CO2 pressure and at mild temperature (35 °C) conditions. In addition, this AgNPs@SBA-15-NH2 material exhibited high chemical stability and reusability, suggesting its promising future in the CO2 fixation reactions.