High yield production of Co@N-doped carbon catalyst and its application in carbonylation of amines to form formamides

An economical and facile method for high-yield production of cobalt and nitrogen co-doped carbon by employing Cobalt salicylate/1,3-dimethylurea though pre-pyrolysis in high pressure is presented. The pre-pyrolysis process helped to produce more carbon, resulting in a weight loss of only 27% after twice pyrolysis. The as-prepared Co@N-doped carbon was charactered and applied as catalyst for the carbonylation of amines to form formamides for the first time in an atomic economic method. A new strategy for synthesis of Co@N-doped carbon materials which is scalable and of high-yield provides highly efficient cost-effective catalyst for economic carbonylation of amines to form formamides.