Utilizing Electrochemistry for Catalytic Amidation Reactions
Restricted (Penn State Only)
Author:
Gizenski, Hannah
Area of Honors:
Chemistry
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Eric Nacsa, Thesis Supervisor Elizabeth A Elacqua, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
synthesis phenothiazine electrocatalysis
Abstract:
This thesis describes the work done previously to develop electrocatalysts for catalytic dehydration reactions, primarily amide-bond forming reactions and introduces the synthesis of phenothiazine-derived catalyst. Chapter 1 introduces the problems encountered while doing traditional amidation reactions and the need to improve upon them. Electrocatalysts are proposed as a solution and previous work in the Nacsa group has shown that 10H-phenothiazine and its derivatives can be used as an efficient catalyst. The optimization of these catalysts is then discussed. Chapter 2 details the five-step synthesis of 9,9-dimethyl-N3,N3,N7,N7,N11,N11-hexaphenyl-9H-quinolino[3,2,1-kl]phenothiazine-3,7,11-triamine, a possible electrocatalyst for amidation reactions. Though there was not a quantitative yield, proof of concept is shown, and further work can be done to optimize the synthesis. Chapter 3 discusses the future work that can be done in this area. New work in the Nacsa group has found that a two-step reaction can be used to form amide-bonds by first forming the anhydride and then by adding the amine substrate. The catalyst synthesized and other similar derivatives can then be tested to see if they can give quantitative yields in electrocatalytic amidation reactions.
