Low pressure amide hydrogenation enabled by magnetocatalysis

Abstract

The catalytic hydrogenation of amides with molecular hydrogen (H₂) is an appealing route for the synthesis of valuable amines entering in the preparation of countless organic compounds. Running effective amide hydrogenation under mild H₂ pressures is challenging although desirable to preclude the need for specialized high-pressure technologies in research and industry. Here we show that magnetocatalysis with standard supported catalysts enables unprecedented amide hydrogenation at mild conditions. Widely available and commercial platinum on alumina (Pt/Al₂O₃) was functionalized with iron carbide nanoparticles (ICNPs) to allow for localized and rapid magnetic induction heating resulting in the activation of neighboring Pt sites by thermal energy transfer. Exposure of the ICNPs@Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst to an alternating current magnetic field enables highly active and selective hydrogenation of a range of amides at a reactor temperature of 150 °C under 3 bar or even ambient pressure of H₂. ICNPs@Pt/Al₂O₃ reacts adaptively to fluctuations in electricity supply mimicking the use of intermittent renewable energy sources. This work may pave the way toward a greatly enhanced practicability of amide hydrogenation at the laboratory and production scales, and demonstrates more generally the broad potential of the emerging field of magnetocatalysis for synthetic chemistry.