doi:10.1021/jacsau.1c00477engRodenes, MiriamGonell, FranciscoMartín, SantiagoCorma, AvelinoSorribes, IvánMolecularly engineering Defective Basal Planes in Molybdenum Sulfide for the direct synthesis of Benzimidazoles by Reductive Coupling of Dinitroarenes with AldehydesART-2022-132675Developing more sustainable catalytic processes for preparing N-heterocyclic compounds in a less costly, compact, and greener manner from cheap and readily available reagents is highly desirable in modern synthetic chemistry. Herein, we report a straightforward synthesis of benzimidazoles by reductive coupling of o-dinitroarenes with aldehydes in the presence of molecular hydrogen. An innovative molecular cluster-based synthetic strategy that employs Mo3S4 complexes as precursors have been used to engineer a sulfur-deficient molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)-type material displaying structural defects on both the naturally occurring edge positions and along the typically inactive basal planes. By applying this catalyst, a broad range of functionalized 2-substituted benzimidazoles, including bioactive compounds, can be selectively synthesized by such a direct hydrogenative coupling protocol even in the presence of hydrogenation-sensitive functional groups, such as double and triple carbon–carbon bonds, nitrile and ester groups, and halogens as well as diverse types of heteroarenes.2022http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/12404710.1021/jacsau.1c00477http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/124047oai:zaguan.unizar.es:124047info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA-FEDER/E31-17Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN-AEI-FEDER/PID2019-105881RB-I00JACS Au 2, 3 (2022), 601-612by-nc-ndhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess