Heteroatomic coupling carbon/oxygen additions

Activated carbon is a very important industrial adsorbent because it exhibits a well developed porosity (micro, meso and macroporosity) and this is coupled with a great thermal and chemical stability, a relatively large hydrophobicity (thus favouring the adsorption of non-polar substances in the presence of humidity), low production cost, etc. Additionally, the surface of activated carbon can be functionalised with different heteroatoms (but mainly oxygen), thus modifying the chemical nature. A large and accessible surface area is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the preparation of activated carbons to be used in industrial adsorption processes (gas and liquid phase purification, separation, environmental control, etc.), since the last few years has shown that the chemical composition of the carbons surface plays a very important role in the process. 

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