Polymeric
ruthenium porphyrin-functionalized carbon nanotubes (Ru-PP/CNTs)
were prepared by the metallation of polymeric porphyrin-functionalized
carbon nanotubes (PP/CNTs) with Ru
3
(CO)
12
, whereas
PP/CNTs were obtained by the condensation of terephthaldehyde and
pyrrole in the presence of CNTs. The Ru-PP/CNTs have a thin layer
of highly cross-linked polymeric ruthenium porphyrin coating over
the CNT surface via strong π–π stacking interactions,
thus showing a bilayered structure with an amorphous polymeric outer
surface and an internal CNT core. Polymeric ruthenium porphyrin-functionalized
reduced graphene oxide (Ru-PP/RGO) was prepared with a synthetic procedure
similar to Ru-PP/CNTs, with RGO as the internal core. Both Ru-PP/CNTs
and Ru-PP/RGO showed excellent catalytic performance toward hydrogenation
of biomass-related ethyl levulinate (EL) to γ-valerolactone
(GVL) with Ru-centered porphyrin units as the catalytic active species.
Under optimized reaction conditions, a GVL yield higher than 99% with
a complete conversion of EL was observed over both Ru-PP/CNTs and
Ru-PP/RGO. In addition to GVL preparation, the versatile Ru-PP/CNTs
can efficiently promote reductive amination of EL with various amines
for the synthesis of pyrrolidone derivatives, with the corresponding
yields ranging from 96.3 to 88.7%. Moreover, the composite materials
of both Ru-PP/CNTs and Ru-PP/RGO behave as heterogeneous catalysts
in the reaction system and can be easily reused.
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