Synthesis and Catalytic Properties of Polymer-Immobilized Nanoparticles of Cobalt and Nickel

Abstract

It is shown that copolymers of polyethylene- and polypropyleneglycolmaleates (p-EGM and p‑PGM) with acrylic acid (AA) can be used as matrices for the preparation of effective metal-polymer complexes for hydrogenation of organic compounds. Electron microscope and dynamic scattering are used to determine the average nanoparticle size of 112 nm; the nanoparticles are spheres with a uniform distribution along the polymer’s cross section. The contents of nickel and cobalt in p-EGM/AA are 0.52 and 0.48 wt %, respectively, and 0.49 and 0.51 wt % in p-PGM/AA, respectively. It is found that raising the temperature from 25 to 40°C allows the rate of pyridine hydrogenation to be increased substantially as a result of catalyst activation and an increase in the number of catalyst active centers, due to the swelling of the polymer network and its transition from the tight globular to the expanded state. Raising the current’s strength from 1 to 3 A lowers the yield of piperidine, which does not allow the increase in the current density to be used to shorten the length of synthesis. It may be concluded that the experimental data allow a final product of hydrogenation with higher rates and yields to be obtained.