Intimate ruthenium–platinum nanoalloys supported on carbon catalyze the hydrogenation and one-pot hydrogenation-coupling reaction of oxidized amino derivatives

Abstract

The use of bimetallic nanoparticles as catalysts in complex organic synthesis is rare, despite the widespread use of these materials in thermal C₁ chemistry and electrocatalysis. Here we show that intimate RuPt nanoalloys, supported on charcoal, catalyze the synthesis of secondary and tertiary amines from a variety of amino derivatives, such as quinolines, isoquinolines, nitrobenzenes, oximes and nitriles, under mild reaction conditions. The organic reactions include not only direct hydrogenation reactions but also hydrogen-borrowing couplings in cascade, to access the desired amines in one-pot from readily available materials. The recyclable bimetallic solid catalyst is at least one order of magnitude more active than the monometallic counterparts in some cases, which illustrates the advantages of Ru–Pt co-operation during hydrogenation and hydrogen-borrowing reactions.