Dehydrogenation of Nitrogen Heterocycles Using Graphene Oxide as a Versatile Metal‐Free Catalyst under Air

Abstract Graphene oxide (GO) has been developed as an inexpensive, environmental friendly, metal‐free carbocatalyst for the dehydrogenation of nitrogen heterocycles. Valuable compounds, such as quinoline, 3,4‐dihydroisoquinoline, quinazoline, and indole derivatives, have been successfully used as substrates. The investigation of various oxygen‐containing molecules with different conjugated systems indicated that both the oxygen‐containing groups and large π‐conjugated system in GO sheets are essential for this reaction. magnified image