Heterogeneous Pd catalyst for mild solvent-free oxidation of benzyl alcohol

Abstract

A magnetically separable catalyst was designed for the production of value-added benzaldehyde. Palladium (Pd) nanoparticles supported on iron-doped SBA-15 (MagSBA) were fabricated and applied as heterogeneous catalyst for solvent-free oxidation of benzyl alcohol using molecular oxygen under atmospheric pressure without external base. The developed Pd/MagSBA showed excellent catalytic performance at comparatively low temperature range of 70–90°C. The catalyst made the oxidation of BzOH milder, purification simpler and less pollution caused. Effects of the palladium loadings, reaction temperature, and stirring rates on their catalytic activity of benzaldehyde conversion were studied. It was found that the designed catalysts were recoverable by simple magnetic separation and were reusable without significant loss of catalytic activity. In addition, the reaction kinetics of the catalytic oxidation was investigated, showing that the reaction was zero order and the calculated activation energy was 50.08kJ/mol.