Copper nanoparticles supported on highly nitrogen-rich covalent organic polymers as heterogeneous catalysts for the ipso-hydroxylation of phenyl boronic acid to phenol

Abstract

This work describes a simple procedure for the synthesis of highly nitrogen-rich covalent organic polymers using commercially available starting materials like melamine and cyanuric chloride as a solid heterogeneous catalyst Cu/TCOP under solvothermal conditions. The structural properties of the as-synthesized solid heterogeneous catalyst were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), ¹³C-CP MAS nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The catalytic activity of Cu/TCOP was investigated by focusing on the oxidation of phenylboronic acid under atmospheric conditions in an aqueous medium, achieving a very good yield up to 99%. The reaction performance was evaluated considering the effect of various parameters, such as the amount of the catalyst, reaction time, temperature, and the amount of the base and solvent. The Cu/TCOP catalyst is completely recoverable in a facile manner from the reaction mixture and the efficiency of the copper nanocatalyst can be recovered after five cycles.