Aqueous-phase selective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone over soluble Pd nanoparticles

Aqueous-phase selective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone over soluble Pd nanoparticles

Green Chem., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC42408A, Paper

Jing-Fang Zhu, Guo-Hong Tao, Hang-Yu Liu, Ling He, Qian-Hui Sun, Hai-Chao Liu

Corresponding authors

^a

College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China

^b

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

^c

Kunming Sino-Platinum Metals Catalyst Co., Ltd., Kunming 650101, China

The water-soluble Pd nanoparticles are highly-efficient catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone in water under mild conditions.

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/GC/C3GC42408A?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2FGC+%28RSC+-+Green+Chem.+latest+articles%29#!divAbstract

The water-soluble metal nanoparticles (NPs) stabilized by poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) were prepared and examined as catalysts for the one-step selective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone in water. More than 99% conversion of phenol and selectivity to cyclohexanone was obtained at 90 °C and 1 atm H₂ for 16 h over “soluble” Pd NPs that were reduced by NaBH₄and stabilized by PVP. These Pd NPs were stable, and no leaching or aggregation was detected after five successive runs, showing their advantage for catalyzing the efficient synthesis of cyclohexanone via the one-step selective hydrogenation of phenol under mild conditions.