Controlled synthesis of the henry reaction products: Nitroalcohol versus nitrostyrene by a simple change of amino-groups of aminofunctionalized nanoporous catalysts

A synthetic method for controlling the Henry reaction products from nitrostyrene to nitroalcohol in heterogeneous catalysis by a simple change of the catalytic sites in organoamine-functionalized mesoporous catalysts is reported. The synthesis resulted in either β-nitrostyrene or β-nitroalcohol by simple change of the types of amine functional groups in the amine-functionalized mesoporous catalysts from primary amines into secondary or tertiary.