Abstract
Concentrated sulfuric acid is generally used as a catalyst for producing brominated alkanes in traditional methods, but is highly corrosive and difficult to separate. This work reports the preparation of bromopropane from n-propanol based on a reactive distillation strategy combined with alumina-modified sulfated zirconia (Al2O3/SO42−/ZrO2) as a heterogenous catalyst. As expected, under the optimum reaction conditions (110 °C), the yield of bromopropane was 96.18% without side reactions due to the reactive distillation strategy. Meanwhile, the microscopic morphology and performance of Al2O3/SO42−/ZrO2 were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunner–Emmet–Teller (BET), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT–IR), and other characterization methods. The results confirmed that the morphology of zirconia sulfate is effectively regulated by the modification method of alumina, and more edges and angles provide more catalytic acid sites for the reaction. Furthermore, Al2O3/SO42−/ZrO2 exhibited high stability and remarkable reusability due to the strong chemical bond Zr–Al–Zr. This work provides a practical method for the preparation of bromopropane and can be further extended to the preparation of other bromoalkanes.
Highlights
The development of green synthesis technology and improvement of atomic economic efficiency have become hotspots of current research with the trend toward increasing industrialization and urbanization
The reason for this was Catalysts 2021, 11, 1464 deemed to be that the calcination temperature was too low, and no crystals were formed in the catalyst, 600 ◦ C was selected as the calcination temperature of the catalyst
The results showed that the sulfated zirconia catalyst particles were not modified by aluminum and were large and irregularly arranged with a relatively rough surface, which provides more acidic sites for catalytic reactions
Summary
The development of green synthesis technology and improvement of atomic economic efficiency have become hotspots of current research with the trend toward increasing industrialization and urbanization. The traditional method uses sulfuric acid as a catalyst in brominated alkane production, resulting in several tough issues including equipment corrosion, by-product separation, and environmental pollution. Compared to liquid acid catalysts, solid catalysts have multiple advantages including a simple preparation process, high reactivity, and low corrosivity. Sulfated zirconium oxide (SZ) is one of the metal oxide solid acid catalysts widely studied this year due to its high reactivity and environmental friendliness. It has a wide range of applications in alkylation, isomerization, and other reactions [1,2,3]. Scientists modified sulfated zirconium oxide with expensive metals such as platinum and palladium to improve its catalytic activity [5]
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