Abstract
Magnetically separable nanocatalysts were synthesized by incorporating ironnanoparticles on a mesoporous aluminosilicate (Al-SBA-15) through a mechanochemical grindingpathway in a single step. Noticeably, magnetic features were achieved by employing biomass wasteas a carbon source, which additionally may confer high oxygen functionalities to the resultingmaterial. The resulting catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, porosimetry, andmagnetic susceptibility. The magnetic nanocatalysts were tested in the selective oxidative cleavagereaction of isoeugenol and vanillyl alcohol to vanillin. As a result, the magnetic nanocatalystsdemonstrated high catalytic activity, chemical stability, and enormous separation/reusabilityqualities. The origin of catalytic properties and its relationship with the iron oxide precursor wereanalyzed in terms of the chemical, morphological, and structural properties of the samples. Suchanalysis allows, thus, to highlight the superficial concentration of the iron entities and the interactionwith Al as key factors to obtain a good catalytic response.
Highlights
Environmental issues related to global warming [1], which can have a negative impact on human safety, together with the limited reserves of crude oil, motivated the scientific community in the design of sustainable alternatives for materials, chemicals, energy, and fuel production [2,3]
The proposed methodology resulted to be effective for the preparation of such catalytic systems, pointing out that mechanochemical protocols represent a green and remarkable pathway to synthesize advanced nanomaterials
The employment of biomass residue as a carbon source presents outstanding advantages, since it allows the formation of a magnetic phase without employing other chemicals, such as propionic acid, commonly used for the synthesis of magnetic iron oxide [17]
Summary
Environmental issues related to global warming [1], which can have a negative impact on human safety, together with the limited reserves of crude oil, motivated the scientific community in the design of sustainable alternatives for materials, chemicals, energy, and fuel production [2,3]. A change is required from the traditional concept of process efficiency focused on chemical performance, considering the premises of sustainable development for the replacement of fossil resources by renewable raw materials. In this regard, biomass valorization represents an attractive option to supply the chemical demand by using an abundant and renewable source [4,5]. Lignocellulosic biomass, mainly composed of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose, can lead to terpenes, carbohydrates, fatty esters, and aromatics In this sense, biomass was recently subject of numerous studies, attracting great interest as the most abundant renewable raw material of organic carbon available on the planet and as a perfect substitute for oil in the production of fuels and chemical products [6,7,8]. These facts represent at the same time an interesting and challenging topic for the Catalysts 2019, 9, 290; doi:10.3390/catal9030290 www.mdpi.com/journal/catalysts
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