Heteropoly Acid-Based Catalysts

Bordoloi A, Sahoo S, Lefebvre F, Halligudi SB (2008) Heteropoly acid-based supported ionic liquid-phase catalyst for the selective oxidation of alcohols. J Catal 259 232-239... 

An SBA-15 (SBA, strong base anion) catalyst modified by a heteropoly acid-based IL was prepared by treating molybdovanadophosphoric acid with the IL-modified SBA via ion exchange (V2ILSBA), Scheme 2.18 [81]. This catalyst exhibited nice activity in the selective oxidation of benzylic, allylic, and secondary alcohols by air. However, the primary aliphatic alcohols were less reactive. By using selective oxidation of l-(napthylen-2-yl) ethanol to methyl napthyl ketone as model reaction, the reusabihty of the catalyst V2ILSBA was tested, and no deactivation was observed after five runs. 

Under microwave irradiation and applying MCM-41-immobilized nano-iron oxide higher activity is observed [148]. In this case also, primary aliphatic alcohols could be oxidized. The TON for the selective oxidation of 1-octanol to 1-octanal reached to 46 with 99% selectivity. Hou and coworkers reported in 2006 an iron coordination polymer [Fe(fcz)2Cl2]-2CH30H with fez = l-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-l,l-bis[(l//-l,2,4-triazol-l-yl)methyl]ethanol which catalyzed the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde with hydrogen peroxide as oxidant in 87% yield and up to 100% selectivity [149]. An alternative approach is based on the use of heteropoly acids, whereby the incorporation of vanadium and iron into a molybdo-phosphoric acid catalyst led to high yields for the oxidation of various alcohols (up to 94%) with molecular oxygen [150]. 

Ethyl acetate is an oxygenated solvent widely used in the inks, pharmaceuticals and fragrance sectors. The current global capacity for ethyl acetate is 1.2 million tonnes per annum. BP Chemicals is the world s largest producer of ethyl acetate. Conventional methods for the production of ethyl acetate are either via the liquid phase esterification of acetic acid and ethanol or by the coupling of acetaldehyde also known as the Tischenko reaction. Both of these processes require environmentally unfriendly catalysts (e.g. p-toluenesulphonic acid for the esterification and metal chlorides and strong bases for the Tischenko route). In 1997 BP Chemicals disclosed a new route to produce ethyl acetate directly from the reaction of ethylene with acetic acid using supported heteropoly acids... 

Solid heteropoly compounds are suitable oxidation catalysts for various reactions such as dehydrogenation of O- and N-containing compounds (aldehydes, carboxylic acids, ketones, nitriles, and alcohols) as well as oxidation of aldehydes. Heteropoly catalysts are inferior to Mo-Bi oxide-based catalysts for the allylic oxidation of olefins, but they are much better than these for oxidation of methacrolein (5). Mo-V mixed-oxide catalysts used commercially for the oxidation of acrolein are not good catalysts for methacrolein oxidation. The presence of an a-methyl group in methacrolein makes the oxidation difficult (12). The oxidation of lower paraffins such as propane, butanes, and pentanes has been attempted (324). Typical oxidation reactions are listed in Table XXXI and described in more detail in the following sections. 

The use of HPAs and multicomponenf polyoxometalates as catalysts in liquid-phase reactions was reviewed by Kozhevnikov. Moreover, an interesting minireview was published concerning the Friedel-Crafts acylation of arenes and the Fries rearrangement catalyzed by HPA-based solid acids. The results show that HPA-based solid acids, including bulk and supported heteropoly acids as well as heteropoly acid salts, are efficient and environmentally friendly catalysis for all reacfions analyzed. 

Previous investigations demonstrated for the first time in the literature that in situ isopropanol chemisorption and quantitative temperature programmed surface reaction are suitable to be used to determine the nature, number, and acid strength of the surface/bulk active sites of tungsten oxide-based catalysts and particularly of the heteropoly compounds [15]. 

POMs are promising catalysts for acid, redox and bifunctional catalysis. In many structures, the transition metal addenda atoms such as Mo or W exist in two oxidation states, which results in different redox properties as determined by polarog-raphy. The exceptional ability of heteropolyanions to act as electron reservoirs has been demonstrated by the preparation and characterization of numerous reduced derivatives [32]. They also exhibit high solubility in polar solvents, which means that they can be used in homogeneous catalysis. The wide range of applications of heteropoly compounds are based on their unique properties which include size, mass, electron and proton transfer (and hence storage) abilities, thermal stability. 

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