Significant enhancement on selectivity in silica supported sulfonic acids catalyzed reactions

First Attempt of Glycidol-to-Monoalkyl Glyceryl Ethers Conversion by Acid Heterogeneous Catalysis: Synthesis and Simplified Sustainability Assessment

The selective preparation of monoalkylglyceryl ethers (MAGEs) is a task for researchers owing to their broad range of applications. In this work, green feedstocks such as glycidol and alcohols were used to prepare MAGEs under mild reaction conditions (80 °C, 3 h, 0.5 mol % catalyst) in the presence of acid heterogeneous catalysts. Nafion shows the best performances in terms of conversion and selectivity to MAGES and also high stability. A comparison of the environmental performances with the most consolidated pathway from glycerol has shown that the usage of glycidol (recovered as a value-added product from Epicerol process) and Nafion leads to a lower impact on ecosystems. In addition, results achieved from a simplified socio-economic analysis show that the innovative route here proposed has potential (at the laboratory scale) of enhancing potential gains and of reducing the social implications resulting from externalities associated with environmental impacts (e.g., CO₂ equivalents).

Mechanocatalytic Depolymerization of Cellulose With Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Ionomers

Here, we investigated that the mechanocatalytic depolymerization of cellulose in the presence of Aquivion, a sulfonated perfluorinated ionomer. Under optimized conditions, yields of water soluble sugars of 90-97% were obtained using Aquivion PW98 and PW66, respectively, as a solid acid catalyst. The detailed characterization of the water soluble fraction revealed (i) the selective formation of oligosaccharides with a DP up to 11 and (ii) that depolymerization and reversion reactions concomitantly occurred during the mechanocatalytic process, although the first largely predominated. More importantly, we discussed on the critical role of water contained in Aquivion and cellulose on the efficiency of the mechanocatalytic process.

Silica-supported metal acetylacetonate catalysts with a robust and flexible linker constructed by using 2-butoxy-3,4-dihydropyrans as dual anchoring reagents and ligand donors

2-Butoxy-3,4-dihydropyrans were used, for the first time, as dual anchoring reagents and ligand donors to prepare the immobilize homogeneous metal acetylacetonate catalysts.

Optimizing acid-base bifunctional mesoporous catalysts for the henry reaction: effects of the surface density and site isolation of functional groups

We report on the effects of the surface density and the spacing between grafted organoamines (and residual ungrafted silanols) of amine-functionalized mesoporous materials on their (cooperative) catalytic activity in the Henry reaction. The spacing between the bifunctional groups (amines and silanols), their site isolation, and their surface density were controlled by one-step or two-step grafting of a series of organosilanes containing linear alkylamine, alkyldiamine, alkyltriamine, and meta- and para-substituted aromatic amines onto mesoporous silica in ethanol and/or toluene. The grafting in ethanol produced site-isolated, flexible alkylamines, alkyldiamines, and alkyltriamines of different tether lengths and rigid meta- and para-substituted aromatic amines and high surface area materials, whereas the grafting in toluene resulted in closely spaced organoamines and materials with lower surface areas. The spacing between the organoamine groups was probed by complexing cupric ions with the amines and by measuring the electronic spectra of the complexes. The materials' catalytic activities were dependent not only on the degree of site isolation of the amine groups and the surface areas of the materials, but also on the relative spacing between the functional groups and their surface density. Samples grafted with monoamine groups in ethanol and samples grafted with diamine or triamine groups in toluene for 5 h gave approximately 100% conversion in 16 min of the Henry reaction between p-hydroxybenzaldehyde and nitromethane. However, the corresponding monoamine-grafted sample in toluene and diamine- and triamine-grafted samples in ethanol gave approximately 100% conversion after 1 h. On the basis of turnover number (TON) and TON per surface area, the samples containing optimum concentrations of approximately 0.8 - 1.5 mmol of grafted organoamines/g, which we dubbed as the critical density of organic grafted groups, gave the highest catalytic efficiencies. These samples have the most favorable amine-silanol cooperative catalytic activity. Furthermore, samples functionalized with rigid meta-substituted aminophenyl groups in ethanol showed higher catalytic efficiency than the corresponding sample containing the amine groups at the para-position, possibly due to the close proximity of the bifunctional groups in the former. The capping of ungrafted silanols with noncatalytic organosilanes in toluene resulted in reduction of catalytic activities, confirming the involvement of silanols.

Rational design of solid catalysts for the selective use of glycerol as a natural organic building block

Glycerol is the main co-product of the vegetable oils industry (especially biodiesel). With the rapid development of oleochemistry, the production of glycerol is rapidly increasing and chemists are trying to find new applications of glycerol to encourage a better industrial development of vegetable oils. In this Review, attention is focused on the selective use of glycerol as a safe organic building block for organic chemistry. An overview is given of the different heterogeneous catalytic routes developed by chemists for the successful and environmentally friendly use of glycerol in sustainable organic chemistry. In particular, the effects of different catalyst structural parameters are discussed to clearly highlight how catalysis can help organic chemists to overcome the drawbacks stemming from the use of glycerol as a safe organic building block. It is shown that heterogeneous catalysis offers efficient routes for bypassing the traditional use of highly toxic and expensive epichlorohydrin, 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol, or glycidol, which are usually used as a glyceryl donor in organic chemistry.

Selectivity Enhancement of Silica-Supported Sulfonic Acid Catalysts in Water by Coating of Ionic Liquid

Coating of silica-supported sulfonic acid catalysts with hydrophobic ionic liquid leads to a significant improvement of catalyst selectivity. Many organic reactions, including Prins cyclization, cycloaddition of epoxide to aldehyde, and dehydrative etherification of secondary benzyl alcohols, proceed well in formalin or pure water. In particular, tandem dehydration/Prins cyclization reactions of tertiary and secondary alcohols with formaldehyde were developed for the first time.