A green and scalable strategy has been developed for the synthesis of lignin-derived Zn single atom/N-codoped porous carbon (LCN@Zn-SAC) containing similar ZnN_x sites with carbonic anhydrases. This catalyst exhibits superior activity on the α-alkylation of ketones with alcohols via borrowing hydrogen strategy (TON up to 15 h⁻¹) than most of previously reported works. The dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol is the rate-determining step based on kinetic experiment results. According to experimental and theoretical calculation results, Zn electron density is inversely proportional to reaction energy barriers, because Zn sites with less positive charge (ZnN₄ and ZnN₃C) in Zn-SACs display better borrowing hydrogen ability than other Zn sites. Furthermore, this catalyst can be recycled by simple centrifugation, which can be reused at least 8 runs with no obvious lose in activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of non-noble metal-SAC-catalyzed α-alkylation via borrowing hydrogen strategy.

已经开发了一种绿色和可扩展的策略来合成木质素衍生的 Zn 单原子/N 共掺杂多孔碳 (LCN@Zn-SAC)，该多孔碳含有与碳酸酐酶相似的 ZnN _x位点。该催化剂通过借氢策略（TON 长达 15 h ^-1）对酮与醇的 α-烷基化表现出优于大多数先前报道的工作的活性。苯甲醇的脱氢是基于动力学实验结果的定速步骤。根据实验和理论计算结果，Zn 电子密度与反应能垒成反比，因为 Zn 位点的正电荷较少（ZnN ₄和 ZnN ₃C) 在 Zn-SAC 中，比其他 Zn 位点表现出更好的借氢能力。此外，这种催化剂可以通过简单的离心回收，至少可以重复使用 8 次，活性没有明显损失。据我们所知，这是通过借氢策略非贵金属-SAC催化的α-烷基化的第一个例子。