Metal-free catalysis of nitrogen-doped nanocarbons for the ammoxidation of alcohols to nitriles.

Here meso-N/C-900 derived from polypyridyl ligand DAA has been developed as a metal-free catalyst, for the first time, exhibiting good performance in catalytic ammoxidation of alcohols to nitriles. Systematic characterization suggests that the accessible mesopores and the effective pyridinic/pyrrolic-N are responsible for the unprecedented performance.