Green and selective hydrogenation of aromatic diamines over the nanosheet Ru/g-C_(3)N_(4)-H_(2) catalyst prepared by ultrasonic assisted impregnation-deposition method

In this study,nanosheet g-C_(3)N_(4)-H_(2) was prepared by thermal exfoliation of bulk g-C_(3)N_(4) under hydrogen.A series of Ru/g-C_(3)N_(4)-H_(2) catalysts with Ru species supported on the nanosheet g-C_(3)N_(4)-H_(2) were synthesized via ultrasonic assisted impregnation-deposition method.Ultrafine Ru nanoparticles(<2 nm)were highly dispersed on nanosheet g-C_(3)N_(4)-H_(2).Strong interaction due to Ru-Nx coordination facilitated the uniform distribution of Ru species.Meanwhile,the involvement of surface basicity derived from abundant nitrogen sites was favourable for enhancing the selective hydrogenation performance of bi-benzene ring,i.e.,almost complete 4,40-diaminodiphenylmethane(MDA)conversion and>99%4,40-diaminodicyclohexylmethane selectivity,corresponding to a reaction activity of 35.7 mol_(MDA) mol_(Ru)^(-1) h^(-1).Moreover,the reaction activity of catalyst in the fifth run was 36.5 mol_(MDA) mol_(Ru)^(-1) h^(-1),which was comparable with that of the fresh one.The computational results showed that g-C_(3)N_(4) as support was favorable for adsorption and dissociation of H_(2) molecules.Moreover,the substrate scope can be successfully expanded to a variety of other aromatic diamines.Therefore,this work provides an efficient and green catalyst system for selective hydrogenation of aromatic diamines.