Tuning Catalytic Activity for Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley (MPV) Reaction through Designing Catalytic Sites

Catalytic materials are essential to upgrading biomass into usable commodity chemicals and fuels, which requires increasing the hydrogen content and decreasing the oxygen content. An important reaction for catalytic upgrading is the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reaction that sacrifices an inexpensive alcohol (e.g., isopropanol) to convert a ketone into an alcohol. This important reaction has recently been investigated widely with a number of different insights being revealed.[1–4] Through using these insights, we have designed a novel catalytic material. In this poster presentation, we will present the synthesis, characterization, and catalytic activity of our novel catalytic material. The material has been characterized using a battery of standard methods, including advanced spectroscopy methods. Importantly, we find that the catalytic activity for hindered substrates is increased. Based on these insights, we suggest new formulations of the catalyst that could achieve higher catalytic activity.

References

[1] H.Y. Luo, D.F. Consoli, W.R. Gunther, Y. Román-Leshkov, J. Catal. 320 (2014) 198.

[2] A. Corma, M.E. Domine, L. Nemeth, S. Valencia, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124 (2002) 3194.

[3] A. Corma, M.E. Domine, S. Valencia, J. Catal. 215 (2003) 294.

[4] M. Boronat, A. Corma, M. Renz, J. Phys. Chem. B 110 (2006) 21168.