Sustainable aerobic oxidative coupling of thiols and amines for selective formation of sulfenamides using MOF-derived cobalt nanoparticles supported on N-doped carbon

ZIF-67-derived cobalt-based N-doped carbon has been developed as a heterogeneous catalyst for aerobic oxidative S-N coupling. This catalytic system allows for the efficient and selective transformation of various thiols and amines to sulfenamides with moderate to high yields. The catalyst can be recycled for six consecutive runs with negligible loss of activity. Cobalt nanoparticles were determined to be the catalytically active sites through material characterization and control experiments. A preliminary mechanistic investigation suggests a radical mechanism with disulfide as an intermediate.