Selective C-H Oxidation Using a Heterogeneous Cobalt Catalyst and Green Oxidizers

Overview

Activation of C-H bonds is of interest for converting feedstock chemicals from oil, natural gas, and biomass into higher value chemicals. Many of the catalysts that are currently employed in C-H activation require precious metals and so a current challenge is to replace these catalysts using earth-abundant and cheaper first row transition metals.
 

Study

This project aims to develop an efficient system for selective oxidation of a wide range of organic substrates including compounds containing unactivated C-H bonds.  We recently reported the synthesis and characterization of a highly active heterogeneous cobalt water oxidation catalyst formed from simple and abundant starting materials. We are investigating its use in conjunction with an environmentally benign oxidant to selectively oxidize organic substrates under mild reaction conditions.

Impact

Development of heterogeneous first row transition metal catalysts could enable larger scale implementation of selective C-H oxidation for more efficient drug synthesis, fine chemical synthesis, and conversion of feedstock chemicals. 

Publications

Samuel L. Collom, Aaron J. Bloomfield, and Paul T. Anastas; A Heterogeneous Cobalt Catalyst for Selective C-H Oxidation with KHSO5 as the Terminal Oxidant; Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews (in Progress)

Aaron J. Bloomfield, Stafford W. Sheehan, Samuel L. Collom, and Paul T. Anastas; Performance Enhancement for Electrolytic Systems through the Application of a Cobalt-based Heterogeneous Water Oxidation Catalyst; ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2015, 3, 1234−1240.

Aaron J. Bloomfield, Stafford W. Sheehan, Samuel L. Collom, Robert H. Crabtree and Paul T. Anastas; A heterogeneous water oxidation catalyst from dicobalt octacarbonyl and 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane; New Journal of Chemistry, 2014, 38, 1540-1545.

Aaron J. Bloomfield, Stafford W. Sheehan, Samuel L. Collom, Robert H. Crabtree and Paul T. Anastas; Metal oxide-?organic hybrid materials for heterogeneous catalysis and methods of making and using thereof; US Patent 20150065339