Chem. J. Chinese Universities ›› 2025, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (8): 20250048.doi: 10.7503/cjcu20250048

• Physical Chemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Quaternary Ammonium Cation-assisted Synthesis of Sulfur Vacancy-rich MoS2 for Catalyzing Hydrogenation of Sulfur-containing Nitroarenes

LING Zongpeng, CHEN Haitao, GAO Hongxia, DAI Huicong, ZHAO Zhenchao(), YANG Qihua   

  1. Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Reactive Chemistry on Solid Surfaces,College of Chemistry and Materials Science,Zhejiang Normal University,Jinhua 321004,China
  • Received:2025-02-21 Online:2025-08-10 Published:2025-04-21
  • Contact: ZHAO Zhenchao E-mail:zhaoenc@zjnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22472153)

Abstract:

The catalytic hydrogenation of sulfur-containing nitroaromatic hydrocarbons to their corresponding amino compounds is a crucial reaction for achieving green transformation in pharmaceutical intermediates. However, the strong coordination of sulfur atoms poisons transition metal hydrogenation catalysts, suppressing their catalytic activity. Herein, we selected intrinsically sulfur-resistant MoS2 as the catalyst and modulated its sulfidation behavior by replacing ammonium ions in molybdate precursors with quaternary ammonium cations of varying organic chain lengths to synthesize corresponding MoS2 catalysts. Electron paramagnetic resonance(EPR) and O2 titration in situ infrared(IR) characterization reveal that edge sulfur vacancies in MoS2 increase with the elongation of quaternary ammonium salt carbon chains. In the hydrogenation of the model substrate 5-nitrobenzothiazole(NBZ), the catalyst’s activity is closely related to edge S vacancies. The optimized catalyst outperforms the currently reported Co-Mo-S catalysts. In a fixed-bed continuous flow reactor under 80 ℃, 0.3 MPa, the catalyst achieves a conversion efficiency of 49 mgNBZ·gcat‒1·h‒1, surpassing the performance of the supported noble metal catalyst Pt/TiO2 under identical conditions. This study demonstrates that long-chain organic quaternary ammonium cations significantly enhance edge S vacancies in MoS2, highlighting their potential application value in hydrogenating sulfur-containing nitroaromatic compounds.

Key words: MoS2, Quaternary ammonium cation, S vacancy, Sulfur-containing nitroarene, Catalytic hydrogenation

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