Nb2O5·nH2O as a heterogeneous catalyst with water-tolerant Lewis acid sites

Kiyotaka Nakajima; Yusuke Baba; Ryouhei Noma; Masaaki Kitano; Junko N Kondo; Shigenobu Hayashi; Michikazu Hara

doi:10.1021/ja110482r

Nb2O5·nH2O as a heterogeneous catalyst with water-tolerant Lewis acid sites

J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Mar 30;133(12):4224-7. doi: 10.1021/ja110482r. Epub 2011 Mar 3.

Authors

Kiyotaka Nakajima¹, Yusuke Baba, Ryouhei Noma, Masaaki Kitano, Junko N Kondo, Shigenobu Hayashi, Michikazu Hara

Affiliation

¹ Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan.

PMID: 21370861
DOI: 10.1021/ja110482r

Abstract

Niobic acid, Nb(2)O(5)·nH(2)O, has been studied as a heterogeneous Lewis acid catalyst. NbO(4) tetrahedra, Lewis acid sites, on Nb(2)O(5)·nH(2)O surface immediately form NbO(4)-H(2)O adducts in the presence of water. However, a part of the adducts can still function as effective Lewis acid sites, catalyzing the allylation of benzaldehyde with tetraallyl tin and the conversion of glucose into 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural in water.