Palladium glycerol oxidation

Platinum and palladium are effective catalysts for alcohol oxidation when used alone however, significant stability and selectivity improvements have been observed on incorporation of a second (usually less active) metal promoter such as Bi, Pb, and Sn [63-65]. These observations are common to aerobic selox of allyhc and benzylic alcohols, as well as polyols such as propylene glycol [64] and glycerol [66]. In the case of Bi, in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) indicate that the promoter protects Pt against deactivation by overoxidation and prevents site blocking by, for example, aromatic solvents [67]. 

Villa, A., Campione, C. and Prati, L. (2007). Bimetallic Gold/Palladium Catalysts for the Selective Liquid Phase Oxidation of Glycerol, Catal Lett., 115, pp. 133-136. 

Dimitratos, N., Lopez-Sanchez, J., Anthonykutty, J., et al. (2009). Oxidation of Glycerol Using Gold-Palladium Alloy-Supported Nanocrystals, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 11, pp. 4952-A961. 

The oxidation of glycerol (GLY) to glyceric acid (GLYAC) was carried out with air on palladium and platinum catalysts at basic pH 15). The selectivity to glycerate was 70% at 100% conversion. In contrast, using bismuth-promoted platinum catalyst the selectivity shifted to dihydroxyacetone. 

---