Efficient Synthesis of p-Hydroxyphenyl Ethanol from Hydrogenation of Methyl p-Hydroxyphenylacetate with CNTs-promoted Cu-Zr Catalyst

Abstract

Hydrogenation of methyl p-hydroxyphenylacetate has been used for the synthesis of p-hydroxyphenyl ethanol. The reaction was catalyzed by CuiZrj-x%(mass fraction) carbon nanotubes(CNTs) catalysts. Incorporation of a minor amount of CNTs into CuiZrj oxide can visibly increase the catalytic activity for the synthesis of p-hydroxyphenyl ethanol. The yield of p-hydroxyphenyl ethanol reaches 94.2% over a co-precipitated catalyst of Cu3Zr1 oxide with 11.0%CNTs. Its catalytic activity shows no obvious decrease after three cycles. This is much better than the CNT-free co-precipitated catalyst with a good yield of 81.1%, Cu3Zr1-0%CNTs.