Thermodynamic evaluations of the acceptorless dehydrogenation and hydrogenation of pre-aromatic and aromatic N-heterocycles in acetonitrile

Abstract

N-heterocycles are important chemical hydrogen-storage materials, and the acceptorless dehydrogenation and hydrogenation of N-heterocycles as organic hydrogen carriers have been widely studied, with the main focus on the catalyst synthesis and design, investigation of the redox mechanisms, and extension of substrate scope. In this work, the Gibbs free energies of the dehydrogenation of pre-aromatic N-heterocycles (YH₂) and the hydrogenation of aromatic N-heterocycles (Y), i.e., ΔG_H2R(YH₂) and ΔG_H2A(Y), were derived by constructing thermodynamic cycles using Hess' law. The thermodynamic abilities for the acceptorless dehydrogenation and hydrogenation of 78 pre-aromatic N-heterocycles (YH₂) and related 78 aromatic N-heterocycles (Y) were well evaluated and discussed in acetonitrile. Moreover, the applications of the two thermodynamic parameters in identifying pre-aromatic N-heterocycles possessing reversible dehydrogenation and hydrogenation properties and the selection of the pre-aromatic N-heterocyclic hydrogen reductants in catalytic hydrogenation were considered and are discussed in detail. Undoubtedly, this work focuses on two new thermodynamic parameters of pre-aromatic and aromatic N-heterocycles, namely ΔG_H2R(YH₂) and ΔG_H2A(Y), which are important supplements to our previous work to offer precise insights into the chemical hydrogen storage and hydrogenation reactions of pre-aromatic and aromatic N-heterocycles.