Probing Carbocatalytic Activity of Carbon Nanodots for the Synthesis of Biologically Active Dihydro/Spiro/Glyco Quinazolinones and Aza-Michael Adducts.

Herein, we report the fluorescent carbon dots as an effective and recyclable carbocatalyst for the generation of carbon-heteroatom bond leading to quinazolinone derivatives and aza-Michael adducts under mild reaction conditions. The results establish this nanoscale form of carbon as an alternative carbocatalyst for important acid catalyzed organic transformations. The mild surface acidity of carbon dots imparted by -COOH functionality could effectively catalyze the formation of synthetically challenging spiro/glycoquinazolinones under the present reaction conditions.

Carbon dot reduced palladium nanoparticles as active catalysts for carbon-carbon bond formation.

Carbon dots were used as a reducing agent for the synthesis of Pd nanoparticles coated with ultrathin carbon dot shells of ca. 4 nm. The resulting composite nanoparticles showed high catalytic activity for the Heck and Suzuki coupling reactions.