Hao Xiaopeng

A novel route to synthesize diphenylene by the catalytic effect of GaP nanocrystals

Diphenylene was synthesized directly from benzene under the catalytic effect of GaP nanocrystals, and the effect of GaP nanocrystals content was studied. The experimental results showed that no reactions took place without GaP nanocrystals. The more the GaP nanocrystals added, the more the reaction complete. Furthermore, at high temperatures (450–480°C), when the content of GaP nanocrystals was high enough, almost all benzene polymerized and the yield of diphenylene was rather high. On the contrast, even if there are enough GaP nanocrystals in the reaction mixture, almost no polymerization reaction took place at low temperature (for example, 250–300°C), and the yield of diphenylene was very poor. The analytical results of XRD, IR, elemental analysis and NMR proved that the sample was truly diphenylene.