Nitrogen-containing organic products from the treatment of liquid toluene with plasma-activated N2 gas

This proof-of-principle study explored the possibility to form nitrogen-containing organic products via exposure of liquid toluene to a flow of molecular nitrogen, at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, activated by dielectric barrier discharges. N-containing organic compounds indeed formed under these conditions, including benzonitrile, a high-value chemical that is industrially synthesized from toluene under demanding conditions. Toluene-derived higher hydrocarbons, as well as oxygen-containing derivatives, were also detected, the latter due to efficient reactions of residual oxygen in the system. A mechanistic description of the observed chemistry is provided, together with guidelines for increasing the selectivity for C–N forming reactions and the development of this approach into a novel synthetic approach for high-value organic N-containing chemicals.