Vincenzo Campisciano

Design of PNIPAAM covalently grafted on halloysite nanotubes as a support for metal-based catalysts

A thermo-responsive polymer such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAM) was covalently grafted on the external surface of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) by means of microwave irradiation. This nanomaterial was used as a support and stabilizer for palladium nanoparticles. The obtained HNT–PNIPAAM/PdNPs was characterized by means of TGA, SEM, EDS and TEM analyses. The palladium content of the catalyst was estimated to be 0.4 wt%. The stability of the catalytic material at different temperatures (below and above the PNIPAAM lower critical solution temperature) was tested in the Suzuki reaction under microwave irradiation. In addition, TEM analysis after five consecutive runs was performed. The catalyst showed a good catalytic activity toward the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction between phenylboronic acid and several aryl halides in aqueous media under microwave irradiation and low palladium loading (0.016 mol%, 8 μg of Pd). Turnover numbers (TONs) and frequencies (TOFs) up to 6250 and 37 500 h−1, respectively, were reached. The catalyst was easily separated from the reaction mixture by centrifugation and reused for five consecutive cycles with a small drop in its catalytic activity.

Fullerene-ionic-liquid conjugates: a new class of hybrid materials with unprecedented properties.

A modular approach has been followed for the synthesis of a series of fullerene-ionic-liquid (IL) hybrids in which the number of IL moieties (two or twelve), anion, and cation have been varied. The combination of C60 and IL give rise to new unique properties in the conjugates such as solubility in water, which was higher than 800 mg mL(-1) in several cases. In addition, one of the C60 -IL hybrids has been employed for the immobilization of palladium nanoparticles through ion exchange followed by reduction with sodium borohydride. Surprisingly, during the reduction several carbon nanostructures were formed that comprised nano-onions and nanocages with few-layer graphene sidewalls, which have been characterized by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDAX), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Finally, the material thus obtained was successfully applied as catalyst in Suzuki and Mizoroki-Heck reactions in a concentration of just 0.2 mol %. In the former process it was recyclable for five runs with no loss in activity.

Fullerene as a Platform for Recyclable TEMPO Organocatalysts for the Oxidation of Alcohols

[60]Fullerene has been employed successfully as a molecular platform to anchor 12 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐oxyl (TEMPO) moieties. Such an octahedrally substituted C60‐derivative has been employed as an organocatalyst for the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols using the Anelli protocol. The reaction showed a general applicability to various alcohols, and the catalyst was recovered easily and could be recycled for at least seven cycles with no loss in catalytic activity. EPR spectroscopy studies revealed that the amount of radicals decreases during the catalytic cycles, even if the recovered material still displays unchanged catalytic activity. This new approach paves the way to use fullerene as a molecular platform to support other kinds of organometallic and organocatalysts as well as for their use as model compounds to understand the behavior of other nanocarbon‐supported catalysts.

Supported C60-IL-PdNPs as extremely active nanocatalysts for C–C cross-coupling reactions

A C60-ionic liquid hybrid has been covalently linked to three different solid supports, namely amorphous silica, SBA-15 and Fe2O3@SiO2, and the resulting materials have been employed as covalently supported ionic liquid phases (cSILP) in order to immobilize and stabilize palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs). These novel hybrid materials are based on a sort of “matryoshka” system (PdNPs@imidazolium-salt@C60@support) in which the imidazolium-based moieties have not been directly linked to the surface of the support, but they are present in an octopus-like spatial arrangement on the uniformly surface-distributed fullerenes. These materials have been fully characterized and successfully employed as catalysts in C–C bond forming reactions showing, in the case of Suzuki cross-coupling, an outstanding catalytic activity both under classical heating and by irradiating with microwaves. Turn-over frequencies (TOFs) of up to 3 640 000 h−1 have been achieved and the silica-based catalyst showed full recyclability even after 10 cycles.

Supported Ionic Liquids: A Versatile and Useful Class of Materials

Supported ionic liquids (SILs) represent a class of materials with peculiar properties and a huge potential regarding their possible applications in different fields of chemistry. Herein, we report our ongoing research about the use of SILs as support for organocatalysts, their role as catalysts themselves, and their application as support and stabilizers of palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs). The use of SILs based materials allowed achieving good results. Moreover, in some cases, after the functionalization of the catalytic species with an ion-tag moiety, a release and catch approach was employed in order to improve the catalytic activity and to facilitate the recovery of the hybrid system formed by the catalyst adsorbed onto SILs materials. All the reported examples demonstrate the versatility of such SILs materials, which can represent powerful tools able to exert a large number of functions.

Efficient microwave-mediated synthesis of fullerene acceptors for organic photovoltaics

Two different processes, namely the Bamford–Stevens and [4 + 2] Diels Alder reactions, have been optimized under microwave irradiation for the functionalization of fullerenes. In this manner, all the main C60- and C70-based acceptor derivatives for organic solar cells such as PCBM, DPM, BHN and ICBA, have been prepared in higher yields and shorter reaction times with respect to the reported data. These findings represent a step forward toward the wide production of cheaper organic solar cells as a consequence of the cost abatement of the acceptors given by higher yields, lower waste production, and reduced reaction time which means a strong energy saving.

Enhanced power-conversion efficiency in organic solar cells incorporating copolymeric phase-separation modulators

A new class of copolymers containing oligothiophene moieties with different lengths and fullerene units have been designed and prepared by an easy and inexpensive one-step synthetic approach. The incorporation of small quantities of these copolymers into bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells with donor regioregular polythiophene (P3HT) and an acceptor fullerene derivate (PCBM) results in good control of the phase separation process without further affecting the BHJ optoelectronic properties. Indeed, under thermal annealing these copolymers allow the modulation of the growth of domains whose size depends on the length of the copolymer repetitive units. Domain size on the same length scale as the P3HT exciton diffusion length with a good continuity between the electrodes gives efficient exciton dissociation and charge mobility. Thus by employing copolymers containing oligothiophenic chains with a size of about 8 nm, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) (4.46%) and short current density (JSC) (16.15 mA cm−2) values are the highest reported so far for P3HT:PCBM solar cells on plastic substrates.

Modified Nanocarbons for Catalysis

Nanocarbons represent useful scaffolds in the preparation of last generation nanostructured catalysts, and their chemical functionalization through covalent or non‐covalent modification is becoming an important tool for introducing well‐distributed anchoring points and, in the meantime, could be the first step toward the assembling of hybrid nanostructured materials with a hierarchical order. In this Review are reported synthesis and catalytic applications of chemically modified nanocarbons such as fullerene, carbon nanotubes, graphene, nanohorns and nanodiamonds in organocatalytic and metal‐based (metal nanoparticles, organometallic complexes) reactions, covering major chemical reactions encompassing, the oxidation of alcohols, aldehydes, olefins, and silanes, hydrogenation reactions of aldehydes, ketones, and alkenes, dehydrogenative coupling of silanes, C−C coupling reactions, epoxidation of alkenes, CO2 fixation into cyclic carbonates, and asymmetric reactions, among others.

Correction: Supported C60-IL-PdNPs as extremely active nanocatalysts for C–C cross-coupling reactions

Correction for ‘Supported C60-IL-PdNPs as extremely active nanocatalysts for C–C cross-coupling reactions’ by Francesco Giacalone et al., J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 17193–17206.