A novel catalyst-free methodology has been developed to prepare few-layer hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets using a bottom-up process. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (both high and low resolution) exhibit evidence of less than ten layers of nanosheets with uniform dimension. X-ray diffraction pattern and other additional characterization techniques prove crystallinity and purity of the product.
A novel catalyst-free sulfonation reaction for synthesizing 3-sulfone nitrile compounds from sulfonyl hydrazides and acrylonitriles in water, without any metal catalyst, ligand or organic solvent, was demonstrated.