A ferrocene-based ionic liquid (Fe-IL) is used as a metal-containing feedstock with a nitrogen-enriched ionic liquid (N-IL) as a compatible nitrogen content modulator to prepare a novel type of non-precious-metal–nitrogen–carbon (M-N-C) catalysts, which feature ordered mesoporous structure consisting of uniform iron oxide nanoparticles embedded into N-enriched carbons. The catalyst Fe¹⁰@NOMC exhibits comparable catalytic activity but superior long-term stability to 20 wt % Pt/C for ORR with four-electron transfer pathway under alkaline conditions. Such outstanding catalytic performance is ascribed to the populated Fe (Fe₃O₄) and N (N2) active sites with synergetic chemical coupling as well as the ordered mesoporous structure and high surface area endowed by both the versatile precursors and the synthetic strategy, which also open new avenues for the development of M-N-C catalytic materials.

A mild and convenient synthesis of carbazoles by TfOTMS (trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate)-catalyzed ring-opening annulation of 2-amidodihydrofurans is presented with a high degree of chemoselectivity and regioselectivity. This procedure was also scaled up to a gram-scale synthesis. The reaction could involve an iminonium intermediate through a series of CO, CN bond cleavages, CC bond formations, and a 1,2-migration process.

A copper-catalyzed CC bond cleavage reaction of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with 2-iodoanilines was developed. In this process, the ortho effect played an important role in the reactivity and a new reaction pathway that involved a (2-aminophenyl)-bis-(1,3-dicarbonyl) copper species was clearly observed by a time-course HRMS analysis of the reaction mixture. Unlike the previous reports, both the nucleophilic and electrophilic parts of the 1,3-dicarbonyl compound were coupled with 2-iodoaniline by CC bond cleavage to form o-(N-acylamino)aryl ketones, which could be efficiently converted into multisubstituted indoles.

The carbonylative domino synthesis of enaminones and pyrazoles has been performed with the NN bidentate palladium catalyst to achieve excellent selectivity. These results have confirmed that the carbonylative Sonogashira coupling of iodobenzenes with terminal alkynes is accompanied by the Michael addition of amines or phenylhydrazine in a one-pot method, which generates the desired products. This protocol demonstrates wide substrate tolerance, including hitherto unused aromatic amines, to yield the corresponding pure aromatic β-enaminones, which are subsequently converted into the 3-acylindole derivatives under mild conditions.

Nitrogen-functionalized active carbon-supported ultrasmall Pd nanoparticles were conveniently prepared by using a postloading method. The Pd catalyst was highly active and selective for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes at room temperature under ambient pressure. Reducible groups such as ketone, carboxylic acid, and ester were not hydrogenated, and the corresponding anilines were obtained quantitatively. The Pd catalyst demonstrated high stability and could be reused 10 times without the loss of catalytic performance.

Considerable effort has been applied to the development of new processes and catalysts for cellulose conversion to valuable platform chemicals. Isosorbide is among the most interesting products as it can be applied as a monomer and building block for the future replacement of fossil resource-based products. A sustainable method of isosorbide production from cellulose is presented in this work. The strategy relies on a bifunctional Ru catalyst supported on mesoporous niobium phosphate in a H₂ atmosphere under pressure without further addition of any soluble acid. Over 50 % yield of isosorbide with almost 100 % cellulose conversion can be obtained in 1 h. The large surface area, pore size, and strong acidity of mesoporous niobium phosphate promote the hydrolysis of cellulose and dehydration of sorbitol; additionally, the appropriate size of the supported Ru nanoparticles avoids unnecessary hydrogenolysis of sorbitol. Under a cellulose/catalyst mass ratio of 43.3, the present bifunctional catalyst could be stably used up to six times, with its mesoporous structure well preserved and without detectable Ru leaching into the reaction solution.