Selective Hydrogenation Of Phenol To Cyclohexanone

Biomass resource has been an important status in renewable energy field. Biomassresource can, not only provide energy, but also become important refined chemicals.Carbon nanotube(CNT), as one of the most important nanomaterials, has gained more andmore attention. Due to their excellent properties, the new materials of polyaniline/carbonnanotube(PANI/CNT) composites have been developed in this research. This kind ofcomposites has shown great application values in development of optical instruments,sensors, and also catalysts, et al. In this paper, phenol and other hydroxylated aromaticcompounds are respectively studied. These biomass materials are successfully transformedinto chemicals and bio-oil, and excellent results have been obtained.The nanocatalyst of palladium-polyaniline/carbon nanotube(Pd-PANI/CNT) has beenobtained, and with the catalysts, one-pot process of selective phenol hydrogenationcombining into cyclohexanone has been achieved. Conversion exceeding99%and>99%selectivity are achieved under the investigated aqueous conditions with sodium formate asthe hydrogen, and a series of phenol-derived compounds about their selectivehydrogenation with similar performance have been also studied in this paper.In an extension to Pd-PANI/CNT, polymers such as polypyrrole (PPY),poly(4-vinylpyridine)(PVP), and poly(1-vinylimidaole)(PNVI) were further applied to acatalyst of Pd-polymer/CNT for selective phenol hydrogenation. All of thePd-polymer/CNT catalysts showed excellent to good performance toward selective phenolhydrogenation. However, Pd-PANI/CNT was considerably more active (conversionexceeding99%) and selective (>99%) to afford the desired cyclohexanone thanPd-PPY/CNT, Pd-PVP/CNT, and Pd-PNVI/CNT. The research highlights anenvironmentally benign and effective process for the selective reduction of phenolderivatives with sodium formate as an alternative hydrogen source, even in the catalyticapplication of composite materials.