Highly Efficient Gold Nanoparticle Catalyzed Deoxygenation of Amides, Sulfoxides, and Pyridine N-Oxides

Selective deoxygenation is one of the most important reactions in the areas of total synthesis, biological chemistry, and transformation of renewable biomass resources.To date, many useful methods for the selective deoxygenation of oxygen-containing organic molecules, such as amides, nitro compounds, epoxides, sulfoxides, and those with Noxide groups, have been developed. However, these methods often include stoichiometric reactions. Some successful catalysts have been reported,but most of them are homogeneous systems and still suffer from low activities and selectivities, harsh reaction conditions, and tedious workup procedures. Therefore, further development of highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for selective deoxygenations is highly desired. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.