The work is carried out by M Pandey, S Das, M. Bandyopadhyay of IITRAM along with collaborators.
This work was motivated by the extensive use of organic group-modified materials and transition metal complexes immobilized on the surface of porous materials as catalysts in important industrial reactions. Our groups have carried out thorough study on inorganic/organic hybrid catalysts like acid/base functionalized, mono, bi and tetranuclear Zn, Ni based complex anchored mesoporous/layered materials on epoxide ring opening of propylene oxide and cyclohexene oxide with piperidine, morpholine, aniline, etc. Using a well-established synthesis protocol, tetranuclear Ni complex has been used to anchor onto the surface of thiol-functionalized Na-Y zeolite. Different physiochemical techniques were used to characterize the prepared hybrid materials to verify their shape, crystallinity, phase purity, and functionality in the material. The catalytic activity of tetranuclear Ni complex immobilized thiol functionalized Na-Y zeolite (Na-Y-S-Ni4) was investigated for ring breaking of cyclohexene oxide. The prepared hybrid catalyst Na-Y-S-Ni4 showed remarkable catalytic property by promoting the formation of high-yield products like β-amino alcohol by electrophilic ring opening reaction. 89% and 90 % conversion of pyrrolidine and piperidine with high selectivity of the desired product were observed in ring breaking of cyclohexene oxide. Maximum reactant conversion and product selectivity were achieved by fine-tuning of the reaction parameters.
