Recently, a team of researchers led by Professor Chen Ping and Professor Guo Jianping in our group, in collaboration with a team of Professor Xi Zhenfeng from Peking University, developed a method for synthesizing a variety of important nitrogen-containing organic compounds from nitrogen through a research paradigm that cross-integrates homogeneous and multiphase processes.

The efficient activation and conversion of nitrogen is a very challenging scientific problem in chemistry. In addition tothelow-temperature and low-pressure synthesis of ammonia, the direct synthesis of nitrogen-containing organic matter from nitrogen is another major challenge in the field of nitrogen fixation, and there are only a few related studies.

In this work, there search team first used hydride reduction and nitrogen fixation characteristics to react lithium hydride (LiH) with nitrogen molecules and expanded graphite C, and prepared highly active nitrogen species"Li₂CN₂" through a heterogeneous chemical synthesis method. Then, using Li₂CN₂ as a synthon, they further reacted with suitable organic substrates through a homogeneous synthesis method to construct important nitrogen- containing organic compounds such as carbodiimide, pyrimidine base, disubstituted cyanamide, aromatic substituted cyanamide and triazole, demonstrating the efficiency and development prospects of the cross-integration research paradigm of heterogeneous chemistry and homogeneous chemistry.

These findings were published in the National Science Review (Natl. Sci. Rev.) and the German Journal of Applied Chemistry (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.) with the titles of "Synthesis of Pyrimidines from Dinitrogen and Carbon" and "From Dinitrogen to N-Containing Organic Compounds: Using Li₂CN₂ as a Synthon". This work was supported by the Basic Science Center Project "Air Main Component Conversion Chemistry" of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. (Text/Photo by Wang Qianru).

Article link: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202219298