Highly Ordered Mesoporous Cobalt Oxide as Heterogeneous Catalyst for Aerobic Oxidative Aromatization of N-Heterocycles

N-heterocycles are key structures for many pharmaceutical intermediates. The synthesis of such units normally is conducted under homogeneous catalytic conditions. Among all methods, aerobic oxidative aromatization is one of the most effective. However, in homogeneous conditions, catalysts are difficult to be recycled. Herein, we report a heterogeneous catalytic strategy with a mesoporous cobalt oxide as catalyst. The developed protocol shows a broad applicability for the synthesis of N-heterocycles (32 examples, up to 99 % yield), and the catalyst presents high turnover numbers (7.41) in the absence of any additives. Such a heterogenous approach can be easily scaled up. Furthermore, the catalyst can be recycled by simply filtration and be reused for at least six times without obvious deactivation. Comparative studies reveal that the high surface area of mesoporous cobalt oxide plays an important role on the catalytic reactivity. The outstanding recycling capacity makes the catalyst industrially practical and sustainable for the synthesis of diverse N-heterocycles.