High-efficiency non-thermal plasma synthesis of imine macrocycles†

Abstract

Macrocycles are candidates for wide-ranging applications, yet their synthesis can be low-yielding, poorly reproducible, and resource-intensive, limiting their use. Here, we explore the use of Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) as an efficient method for the synthesis of imine macrocycles at the gram scale. NTP-mediated macrocyclisations consistently achieved high yields of up to 97% in reduced reaction times compared to the standard non-plasma method, and were successfully carried out with a range of different aldehyde substrates. Control experiments were performed to explore the origin of the observed improvements. The results indicate that NTP methods could be advantageous for macrocycle synthesis, particularly for substrates that are sensitive to elevated temperature, and other materials formed via imine condensation.