Selective Oxidation of Alcohols to Carbonyl Compounds and Carboxylic Acids with Platinum Group Metal Catalysts

摘要

The use of platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts for the selective oxidation of various primary and secondary alcohols under mild conditions is described. High throughput screening (HTS) tedhniques have been used to identify trends in catalyst activityu and product selectivity. Using air as oxidant and water as solvent 5% Pt, 1% Bi/C has been identified as an efficient catalyst for the transformation of 2-octanol to 2-octanone and 1-octanol to octanoic acid. To improve aldehyde selectivity the promotion of Pt/Al_2O_3 and Ru/C catalysts has been investigated. The use of H_2O_2 as oxidant has been demonstrated as a suitable alternative to air.