Construction of Class I Aldolases-like Carboxyl-Controlled-Graphene Oxide Supported 3-Aminopropyl-triethoxysilane Heterogeneous Catalysts for Aldol Reaction

Designing catalysts that achieve the rates and selectivities of natural enzymes is a long-standing goal in synthetic chemistry. Herein, the carboxyl-controlled-graphene oxide supported 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (GO n -APTS) heterogeneous catalyts like the class I aldolases with –NH 2 and phenolic –OH groups were developed and applied in aldol reaction. The results demonstrate that the amount of –NH 2 groups and phenolic –OH groups play important roles of activity and selectivity, respectively. The most efficiency catalyst GO 8 -APTS shows an excellent conversion of over 90% with a high aldol product selectivity of about 89%. Furthermore, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused at least 5 times without significant loss of the reactivity. Graphic Abstract