Nanostructured Mesoporous Zinc‐Incorporated Copper Oxide (NMZI‐CuO): An Efficient and Reusable Nanocatalyst for the Synthesis of Esters through C−H Functionalization

Nanostructured mesoporous zinc‐incorporated copper oxide (NMZI‐CuO), an efficient and reusable heterogeneous nanocatalyst, was successfully prepared and fully characterized by XRD analysis, IR spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP‐OES), Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller analysis (BET), energy‐dispersive X‐ray (EDX) spectroscopy, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) methods and was successfully applied for the synthesis of esters through a direct sp3 C−H functionalization of alkyl benzenes. Using this method a broad range of benzyl alcohols as well as aryl aldehydes and alkyl benzenes were reacted via a cross‐dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) process and all desired esters were obtained in good to excellent yields after relatively short times. The catalyst was recovered and reused several times without any detectable loss of activity. Moreover, presented catalyst was successfully applied for selective 5′ esterification of nucleosides using alkyl benzenes without protecting the 2′ and 3′ hydroxyl groups. Small, but powerful: Nanostructured mesoporous zinc‐incorporated copper oxide (NMZI‐CuO) was prepared and characterized. It proved to be an efficient catalyst for cross‐dehydrogenative coupling reactions of benzyl alcohols as well as aldehydes and alkyl benzenes. This catalyst was also successfully applied for the esterification of the 5′ hydroxyl group of nucleosides without protecting the 2′ and 3′ hydroxyl groups.