Organic Reactions Using Clay and Clay-Supported Catalysts: A Survey of Recent Literature

Abstract

Clays and modified or supported clays have become some of the widely used catalysts for a variety of organic reactions, due to their easy structural modifications and activation, low-cost, eco-friendly nature, ready availability, ability to act as acidic or basic catalyst without being corrosive. The present review is a survey of the literature dealing with most of the important work on clay catalysed organic reactions published during the period 2011–2020, and is a sequel to our previous review covering the literature of 2001–2010. The review consists of various segments starting with introduction that briefly mentions the structure and modification of clay minerals, particularly the most widely used montmorillonite, followed by organic reactions such as condensation, addition, substitution, elimination, reduction, oxidation, wastewater remediation, biodiesel synthesis and a few miscellaneous reactions that are accomplished using these catalysts. Among these, biodiesel synthesis and remediation are widely investigated transformations, and find practical applications.