One Pot Synthesis of N-acetylglycine from N-acetyl Glucosamine over Bifunctional Ag/MgO

The catalytic conversion of chitin biomass provides an environment-friendly approach for the synthesis of valuable organonitrogen compounds. Here, we prepared bifunctional Ag/MgO by simple deposition-precipitation method. The catalysts exhibited good catalytic activity for one pot synthesis of N-acetylglycine (AcGly) from N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG), offering a 26.2% yield under optimized conditions. The basic nature of MgO contributed to the retro-aldol of NAG, and Ag species catalyzed the oxidation of intermediate to AcGly. The spent catalyst could be recycled and reused for NAG conversion to AcGly.