| 1. |
- Abbaszad Rafi, Abdolrahim, et al.
(author)
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A facile route for concurrent fabrication and surface selective functionalization of cellulose nanofibers by lactic acid mediated catalysis
- 2023
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322 .- 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Celulose nanofibers are lightweight, recycable, biodegradable, and renewable. Hence, there is a great interest of using them instead of fossil-based components in new materials and biocomposites. In this study, we disclose an environmentally benign (green) one-step reaction approach to fabricate lactic acid ester functionalized cellulose nanofibrils from wood-derived pulp fibers in high yields. This was accomplished by converting wood-derived pulp fibers to nanofibrillated “cellulose lactate” under mild conditions using lactic acid as both the reaction media and catalyst. Thus, in parallel to the cellulose nanofibril production, concurrent lactic acid-catalyzed esterification of lactic acid to the cellulose nanofibers surface occured. The direct lactic acid esterification, which is a surface selective functionalization and reversible (de-attaching the ester groups by cleavage of the ester bonds), of the cellulose nanofibrils was confirmed by low numbers of degree of substitution, and FT-IR analyses. Thus, autocatalytic esterification and cellulose hydrolysis occurred without the need of metal based or a harsh mineral acid catalysts, which has disadvantages such as acid corrosiveness and high recovery cost of acid. Moreover, adding a mineral acid as a co-catalyst significantly decreased the yield of the nanocellulose. The lactic acid media is successfully recycled in multiple reaction cycles producing the corresponding nanocellulose fibers in high yields. The disclosed green cellulose nanofibril production route is industrial relevant and gives direct access to nanocellulose for use in variety of applications such as sustainable filaments, composites, packaging and strengthening of recycled fibers.
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| 2. |
- Deiana, Luca, et al.
(author)
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Artificial Arthropod Exoskeletons/Fungi Cell Walls Integrating Metal and Biocatalysts for Heterogeneous Synergistic Catalysis of Asymmetric Cascade Transformations
- 2023
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In: ChemCatChem. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1867-3880 .- 1867-3899. ; 15:15
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A novel and sustainable tandem-catalysis system for asymmetric synthesis is disclosed, which is fabricated by bio-inspired self-assembly of artificial arthropod exoskeletons (AAEs) or artificial fungi cell walls (AFCWs) containing two different types of catalysts (enzyme and metal nanoparticles). The heterogeneous integrated enzyme/metal nanoparticle AAE/AFCW systems, which contain chitosan as the main structural component, co-catalyze dynamic kinetic resolution of primary amines via a tandem racemization/enantioselective amidation reaction process to give the corresponding amides in high yields and excellent ee. The heterogeneous AAE/AFCW systems display successful heterogeneous synergistic catalysis at the surfaces since they can catalyze multiple reaction cycles without metal leaching. The use of natural-based and biocompatible structural components makes the AAE/AFCW systems fully biodegradable and renewable, thus fulfilling important green chemistry requirements.
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| 3. |
- Deiana, Luca, et al.
(author)
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Cellulose-Supported Heterogeneous Gold-Catalyzed Cycloisomerization Reactions of Alkynoic Acids and Allenynamides
- 2023
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In: ACS Catalysis. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2155-5435. ; 13:15, s. 10418-10424
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Herein, we describe efficient nanogold-catalyzed cycloisomerization reactions of alkynoic acids and allenynamides to enol lactones and dihydropyrroles, respectively (the latter via an Alder-ene reaction). The gold nanoparticles were immobilized on thiol-functionalized microcrystalline cellulose and characterized by electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and by XPS. The thiol-stabilized gold nanoparticles (Au-0) were obtained in the size range 1.5-6 nm at the cellulose surface. The robust and sustainable cellulose-supported gold nanocatalyst can be recycled for multiple cycles without losing activity.
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| 4. |
- Deiana, Luca, et al.
(author)
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Subtilisin integrated artificial plant cell walls as heterogeneous catalysts for asymmetric synthesis of (S)-amides
- 2023
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In: RSC Advances. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2046-2069. ; 13:29, s. 19975-19980
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Subtilisin integrated artificial plant-cell walls (APCWs) were fabricated by self-assembly using cellulose or nanocellulose as the main component. The resulting APCW catalysts are excellent heterogeneous catalysts for the asymmetric synthesis of (S)-amides. This was demonstrated by the APCW-catalyzed kinetic resolution of several racemic primary amines to give the corresponding (S)-amides in high yields with excellent enantioselectivity. The APCW catalyst can be recycled for multiple reaction cycles without loss of enantioselectivity. The assembled APCW catalyst was also able to cooperate with a homogeneous organoruthenium complex, which allowed for the co-catalytic dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of a racemic primary amine to give the corresponding (S)-amide in high yield. The APCW/Ru co-catalysis constitutes the first examples of DKR of chiral primary amines when subtilisin is used as a co-catalyst.
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| 5. |
- Veluru, Ramesh Naidu, et al.
(author)
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Regio- and Stereoselective Carbon-Boron Bond Formation via Heterogeneous Palladium-Catalyzed Hydroboration of Enallenes
- 2023
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In: Chemistry - A European Journal. - : Wiley. - 0947-6539 .- 1521-3765. ; 29:24
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A highly efficient regio- and stereoselective heterogeneous palladium-catalyzed hydroboration reaction of enallenes was developed. Nanopalladium immobilized on microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was successfully employed as an efficient catalyst for the enallene hydroboration reaction. The nanopalladium particles were shown by HAADF-STEM to have an average size of 2.4 nm. The cellulose-supported palladium catalyst exhibits high stability and provides vinyl boron products in good to high isolated yields (up to 90 %). The nanopalladium catalyst can be efficiently recycled and it was demonstrated that the catalyst can be used in 7 runs with a maintained high yield (>80 %). The vinylboron compounds prepared from enallenes are important synthetic intermediates that can be used in various organic synthetic transformations.
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