On the sulfuric acid treatment of graphene oxide for biginelli-like carbocatalytic reaction

• Main Author: Santos, Cybele Riesse L
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Graphene > Oxidation; Catalysts; Sulfonation; Chemical reactions; Reduction (Chemistry); Chemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_chem/8; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=etdm_chem
• Institution: De La Salle University

Graphene oxide have attracted interest over the past decade due to their unique and excellent electronic, mechanical, and chemical properties. It has gained more attention as a heterogeneous catalyst in organic transformations such as cyclization and multicomponent reactions to produce heterocyclic compounds with biological importance. To further improve the carbocatalytic activity of graphene oxide, surface modification by incorporation of different functional groups, for example the incorporation of sulfonic acid groups, is a common strategy to make the material more acidic and to create more sites of reaction. Thus, expecting to produce an effective solid Brönsted acid catalyst. Of all the published sulfonation/sulfation strategies, sulfuric acid treatment is the simplest, cheapest, and least toxic method. In this research, the effect of surface modification of graphene oxide, via sulfuric acid treatment, on its ability to promote the multicomponent Biginelli-like reaction was determined. The results from FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and CHNS elemental analysis showed that the produced catalyst from the treatment was not expected. Due to reaction temperature used and the dehydrating nature of the reagent, the treatment could possibly reduce graphene oxide partially which could have affected the carbocatalytic activity in the reaction in terms of its percent yield. Keywords: Graphene Oxide; Carbocatalyst; Biginelli-Like Reactions; Sulfonation; Sulfation; Reduction