Visible light-driven oxidative coupling of dibenzylamine and substituted anilines with a 2D WSe₂ nanomesh material

A novel 2D WSe2 nanomesh material was synthesized with a 3D SBA-15 mesoporous material via a nanocasting strategy. The formation of the 2D sheet-like nanomesh structure of WSe2 inside a 3D confined pore space is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect arising from the crystal self-limitation growth caused by the layered crystal structure of the WSe2 material and to the space-limitation effect coming from the unique pore structure of the SBA-15 template. The 2D WSe2 nanomesh material possesses extremely high exposure of crystal layer edges, making it an excellent photocatalyst. It shows good visible light-driven photocatalytic performance in oxidative coupling of dibenzylamine and 2-amino/hydroxy/mercaptoanilines to prepare a group of heterocyclic compounds, including benzimidazoles, benzoxazoles and benzothiazoles with oxygen as the sole oxidant. A gram-scale experiment was also carried out to exhibit the scope of this method.