Aerobic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol on a Strontium-Based Gold Material: Remarkable Intrinsic Basicity and Reusable Catalyst

Abstract

The development of stable and active gold catalysts has arisen as a significant strategy for oxidation of alcohols. Nano-size PVA-stabilized gold nanoparticles immobilized on Sr(OH)2 by colloidal deposition presented high catalytic activity for benzyl alcohol oxidation. In 2.5 h, 2 bar of O2 and without extra-base addition, the calcined support reached 54.6% (100 °C) and 67.4% (140 °C) of conversion, presenting the remarkable and unexplored intrinsic basicity that strontium-based materials retain. With sub-stoichiometric K2CO3 adding, under the same catalytic conditions, the catalyst conducted the reaction with similar activity, but with excellent reusability in the process, without any gold leaching. We investigated the influence that the support synthesis method and the solvent used for the NPs stabilization have on the oxidation activity. The produced materials were fully characterized by XPS, Rietveld refinement, and TEM.

Keywords

• alcohol oxidation
• gold catalyst
• strontium hydroxide