Adsorptive interaction between 1,5-pentanediol and MgO-modified ZrO2 catalyst in the vapor-phase dehydration to produce 4-penten-1-ol

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.apcata.2017.07.048

Vapor-phase catalytic dehydration of 1,5-pentanediol (1,5-PDO) was investigated over monoclinic ZrO₂ catalysts modified with basic oxides. An unsaturated alcohol, 4-penten-1-ol (4P1OL), was produced together with the formation of tetrahydropyran, δ-valerolactone, 1,4-pentadiene, pentanal, 1-pentanol, and 5-hydroxypentanal, etc. Among the modified ZrO₂ catalysts, only ZrO₂ modified with MgO enhanced the selectivity to 4P1OL efficiently. The most active modified catalyst was found to have 20 mol% MgO and a calcination at 800 °C (MgO/ZrO₂), and the selectivity of 4P1OL exceeded 83% at 400 °C. A pulse adsorption measurement of several chemicals clarified adsorptive interaction between a reactant and a catalyst at 220 °C: the interaction between 1,5-PDO and MgO/ZrO₂ was stronger than the other adsorbates and catalysts. Another strong adsorptive interaction between 1,4-butanediol and CaO/ZrO₂, which was effective in the dehydration of 1,4-butanediol to produce 3-buten-1-ol, was also observed.

Full text of DOI:10.1016/j.apcata.2017.07.048

Accepted Manuscript
Title: Adsorptive interaction between 1,5-pentanediol and
MgO-modified ZrO2 catalyst in the vapor-phase dehydration
to produce 4-penten-1-ol
Authors: Hailing Duan, Masaki Unno, Yasuhiro Yamada,
Satoshi Sato
PII:
S0926-860X(17)30368-X
DOI:
Reference:
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2017.07.048
APCATA 16353
To appear in:
Applied Catalysis A: General
Received date:
Revised date:
Accepted date:
13-5-2017
11-7-2017
30-7-2017
Please cite this article as: Hailing Duan, Masaki Unno, Yasuhiro Yamada, Satoshi
Sato, Adsorptive interaction between 1,5-pentanediol and MgO-modified ZrO2 catalyst
in the vapor-phase dehydration to produce 4-penten-1-ol, Applied Catalysis A,
Generalhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2017.07.048
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A revised manuscript for the original paper submitted to the journal of Appl. Catal. A: Gen.
Re: APCATA-D-17-00953
Adsorptive interaction between 1,5-pentanediol and MgO-modified ZrO2
catalyst in the vapor-phase dehydration to produce 4-penten-1-ol
Hailing Duan, Masaki Unno, Yasuhiro Yamada, Satoshi Sato *
Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Yayoi, Inage, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
* Corresponding author. Tel. +81-43-290-3376; fax: +81-43-290-3401
E-mail address: satoshi@faculty.chiba-u.jp (S. Sato)
Adsorptive interaction between 1,5-pentanediol and MgO-modified ZrO2
catalyst in the vapor-phase dehydration to produce 4-penten-1-ol
Hailing Duan, Masaki Unno, Yasuhiro Yamada, Satoshi Sato *
Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Yayoi, Inage, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Graphical abstract
1

Highlights


Dehydration of 1,5-pentanediol was investigated over modified monoclinic ZrO2 at 400 oC.
Stable catalytic activity of MgO/ZrO2 was observed at conversion of 96% with the 4-penten-1-ol
selectivity >76%.


Adsorptive interaction between 1,5-pentanediol and MgO/ZrO2 was stronger than other
combinations.
A strong adsorptive interaction between 1,4-butanediol and CaO/ZrO2 was also observed.
Abstract
Vapor-phase catalytic dehydration of 1,5-pentanediol (1,5-PDO) was investigated
over monoclinic ZrO2 catalysts modified with basic oxides. An unsaturated alcohol, 4-
penten-1-ol (4P1OL), was produced together with the formation of tetrahydropyran, δ-
valerolactone, 1,4-pentadiene, pentanal, 1-pentanol, and 5-hydroxypentanal, etc. Among the
modified ZrO2 catalysts, only ZrO2 modified with MgO enhanced the selectivity to 4P1OL
efficiently. The most active modified catalyst was found to be with 20 mol% MgO and a
calcination at 800 oC (MgO/ZrO2), over which the selectivity of 4P1OL exceeded 83% at
400 oC. A pulse adsorption measurement of several chemicals clarified adsorptive
interaction between a reactant and a catalyst at 220 oC: the interaction between 1,5-PDO and
MgO/ZrO2 was stronger than the other adsorbates and catalysts. Another strong adsorptive
interaction between 1,4-butanediol and CaO/ZrO2, which was effective in the dehydration of
1,4-butanediol to produce 3-buten-1-ol, was also observed.
Keywords: 1,5-pentanediol; dehydration; 4-penten-1-ol; MgO supported; modified
monoclinic ZrO2;
2

1. Introduction
4-Penten-1-ol (4P1OL) is one of the important industrial intermediates for polymers
[1,2], aroma compounds [3,4], and medical drugs [5,6,7]. However, only a few reports were
found on the preparation of 4P1OL. These reports were focused on the formation of 4P1OL
from tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol [8] and tetrahydrofurfuryl halide [9]. High yield of 4P1OL
(90%) was obtained in the synthesis while the reactions must be conducted in a liquid phase
with the usage of solvents. Besides, there is another possibility for 4P1OL preparation via
the reaction of allyl magnesium chloride with ethylene oxide and then followed by
hydrolysis [10].
In our previous reports, we have investigated the preparation of 4P1OL from 1,5-
pentanediol (1,5-PDO) [11-15]. 1,5-PDO is one of the most valuable chemical compounds
and it is usually used in the production of polyurethanes [16], polyesters [17], and
polycarbonatediols [18], etc. 1,5-PDO can be also produced from lignocellulosic biomass
via the intermediates, furfural, over Pt/Co2AlO4 with 99% selectivity [19], and
tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, over Rh-ReOx/SiO2 [20], Rh-ReOx/C [21], and Ni-Y2O3 [22]
with high conversion and ca. 90% selectivity. Thus, to realize the low-carbon society, the
wide application of biomass-derived 1,5-PDO to more valuable compounds such as 4P1OL
would bring great prospects.
We have investigated the dehydration of 1,5-PDO over various solid catalysts and found
that monoclinic ZrO2 (m-ZrO2) showed high catalytic activities with 4P1OL selectivity at
most 50% [11]. The catalytic activities of Yb2O3 were enhanced greatly with increasing
calcination temperatures, especially the 4P1OL selectivity of 76.7% was obtained at the 1,5-
PDO conversion of 65.9% over 800 oC-calcined Yb2O3 at 400 oC [11]. In2O3 was also found
to have a high 4P1OL selectivity of 70.8% and 1,5-PDO conversion of 36.9% at 350 oC
[12]. The formation rate of 4P1OL from 1,5-PDO shifted with the radii of rare earth cations
3

of the rare-earth oxide catalysts, which were calcined at 800 oC. The highest 4P1OL
formation rate had been obtained over Lu2O3 (4P1OL selectivity, 77.8% at 400 oC) with the
radius (0.0861 nm) smaller than Yb2O3 (0.0868 nm) but larger than Sc2O3 (0.0745 nm) [13].
Sc0.5Yb1.5O3, both the average radius (0.0837 nm) and the lattice parameter (1.0318 nm)
which is close to Lu2O3 (1.0391nm), was also reported as the most active catalyst with the
4P1OL formation rate of 1.106 mmol h-1 m-2, which is higher than that of Lu2O3 (0.884
mmol h-1 m-2) [14].
In contrast to the precious rare earth catalysts, modification of an inexpensive m-ZrO2
with 1.5 mol% of Li+ also efficiently increased the 4P1OL selectivity up to 75.9% whereas
decreased the conversion of 1,5-PDO greatly from 50.2% to 29.7% at 400 oC [11]. With
increasing the loaded Li+ content, it was observed that the special surface area decreased,
and that the density of acidic sites decreased while the density of basic sites increased. These
changes in the acid-base property suppressed the formation of the major by-products such as
tetrahydropyran (THP) successfully [11]. In addition, CaO-modified m-ZrO2 catalysts have
been reported to be effective in the dehydration of 2,3-butanediol [23, 24] and 1,4-
butanediol [25, 26].
In the present work, we investigated the 4P1OL formation from 1,5-PDO over m-ZrO2
catalysts modified with basic oxides. It was found that modification of m-ZrO2 with MgO
was efficient for the enhancement of the 4P1OL selectivity. The catalytic activity of
MgO/ZrO2 was studied in detail, and the adsorption interaction between 1,5-PDO and 20-
MgO/ZrO2-800 was also evaluated to clarify the reaction mechanisms.
2. Experimental
2.1 Catalyst preparation
4

m-ZrO2 (RSC-100) was supplied by Daiichi Kigenso Kagaku Kogyo Co. Ltd.
LiNO3, NaNO3, KNO3, Mg(NO3)2·6H2O, Ca(NO3)2·4H2O, Sr(NO3)2, and Ba(NO3)2 were
purchased from Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. 1,5-PDO, 4P1OL, 1,4-butanediol, 3-
buten-1-ol, acetone, and 1-decanol were purchased from Wako Pure Chemical Industries,
Ltd.
In this study, the modification of m-ZrO2 was conducted by incipient wetness
impregnation. Each aqueous nitrate solution with the prescribed amount of metal was
impregnated on m-ZrO2 support. The impregnated samples were dried at 110 oC for 12 h
and then calcined in air at a prescribed temperature for 3 h. Hereafter, the ZrO2-supported
catalysts are expressed as X-MO/ZrO2-T, where MO means the metal oxide impregnated on
the support ZrO2, X is MO content defined as the following equation: M/(M+Zr) in molar
percentage, and T represents the calcination temperature.
2.2 Catalytic reaction
The reaction was carried out in a fixed-bed flow reactor at an atmospheric pressure of
carrier gas, either N2 or H2, with a flow rate of 30-90 cm3 min-1 at 250-450 oC. After a
catalyst (0.5-3.0 g) had heated at a prescribed reaction temperature for 1 h, the reactant 1,5-
PDO was fed into the reactor at a feed rate of 1.65 g h-1 i.e. 15.9 mmol h-1. The contact time,
W/F, where W is catalyst weight and F is the feed rate of 1,5-PDO, was typically 0.3 h at
W = 0.5 g. The liquid effluent collected hourly was analyzed by gas chromatography (FID-
GC-8A, Shimadzu, Japan) with a 30-m capillary column (InertCap WAX). The products
were identified by a mass spectrometer combined with gas chromatography (GCMS-
QP5050A, Shimadzu, Japan) using a 30-m capillary column (DB-WAX). The catalytic
activity was evaluated by averaging the conversion and selectivity data in the initial 5 h.
Both the conversion of 1,5-PDO and the selectivity to each product were defined as molar
percentage.
5

2.3 Characterization
X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were recorded on New D8 ADVANCE (Bruker)
using Cu Kα radiation (λ= 0.154 nm) to detect the crystal structure of each catalyst. The
specific surface area of catalyst was calculated by the BET method using the N2 isotherm at
-196 oC. Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) profiles of CO2 and NH3 were
measured to estimate the basicity and acidity of the catalysts. The numbers of basic sites
were estimated from neutralization-titration curves of diluted NaOH solution, and the acidic
sites were estimated with the same method by H2SO4 solution. The density of basic sites was
calculated based on the numbers of basic sites per gram and the specific surface area of the
catalyst per gram, and the detail was described as the previous report [11].
To evaluate the interaction between an adsorbate and a catalyst, adsorption
experiment was carried out using a self-made pulse adsorption apparatus, which was
constructed by connecting a flow line with an adsorption tube made of glass with an inside
diameter of 4 mm and a thermal conductivity detector (TCD). Figure S1 in the
supplementary information illustrates the outline of pulse adsorption apparatus. A catalyst
sample placed in the tube had been preheated at 220 oC in He flow with a flow rate of 15
cm3 min-1 at an ambient pressure. An adsorbate was introduced to the catalyst bed through
injection rubber septum using a micro-syringe with the amount of 0.1 mm3 for each, and
such an operation was repeated for several times. The adsorbate vaporized in He flow was
carried to the catalyst bed and adsorbed on the catalyst. After adsorption-desorption cycle
over the catalyst bed, the adsorbate desorbed from the catalyst bed was carried to the TCD
detector, from which the TCD signal was recorded for analysis. The averaged retention time
and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the detected desorption peak were used for
evaluating the adsorptive interaction.
3. Results and the catalyst characterizations
6

3.1. Dehydration of 1,5-PDO over modified m-ZrO2 catalysts
The dehydration of 1,5-PDO has been investigated over several catalysts in our
previous report [11]. It has been found that the main products are 4P1OL, THP, and δ-
valerolactone (DVL), together with 1,4-pentadiene, pentanal, 1-pentanol, cyclopentanone, 3-
penten-1-ol, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, 3,4-dihydropyran, and 5-hydroxypentanal. In the
present study, Table 1 lists the catalytic results of tetragonal ZrO2 (t-ZrO2), m-ZrO2 and the
modified m-ZrO2 catalysts. m-ZrO2 showed both higher conversion of 1,5-PDO and
selectivity of 4P1OL than those of t-ZrO2 which showed high selectivity to THP, the main
by-product over m-ZrO2. The modification of m-ZrO2 with Li2O, Na2O, K2O, CaO, SrO and
BaO suppressed the 1,5-PDO conversion. In contrast, only MgO enhanced the 4P1OL
selectivity of m-ZrO2 from 62.4 to 77.7% and maintained the conversion of 1,5-PDO at ca.
60%.
Table 2 shows the catalytic activities of the modified m-ZrO2 at different MgO
contents. Increase in the MgO content from 5 to 20 mol% resulted in the slight decrease in
the specific surface area while no conversion decrease was observed. Among the tested
catalysts, 20-MgO/ZrO2 showed the highest 4P1OL selectivity of 83.3 mol%. However, the
excess loading of MgO with 30 mol% greatly decreased both the specific surface area and
the 1,5-PDO conversion.
Table 3 summarizes the effect of calcination temperature of 20-MgO/ZrO2 on the
catalytic activities. At calcination temperatures increased from 600 to 800 oC, the conversion
of 1,5-PDO almost unchanged over 20-MgO/ZrO2 catalysts despite the decrease in their
specific surface areas. On the other hand, the 4P1OL selectivity increased greatly and the
THP selectivity decreased up to a calcination temperature of 800 oC. Over the 20-
MgO/ZrO2-800, the 4P1OL selectivity was 83.3% at the 1,5-PDO conversion of 59.1%. The
4P1OL formation rate was 0.67 mmol h-1 m-2: it is smaller than the highest value (1.11
7

mmol h-1 m-2 at 400 oC) previously reported for Sc0.5Yb1.5O3 with the specific surface area
of 26.2 m2 g-1 [14]. Table S1 in the supplementary information shows the effect of
calcination temperature of pure m-ZrO2 on the catalytic activities. Over the pure m-ZrO2
calcined at 1000 oC, the 4P1OL selectivity was 68.6% at the 1,5-PDO conversion of 50.9%.
High calcination temperatures decreased the specific surface area. Therefore, the 1,5-PDO
conversion decreased with increasing calcination temperature, while the 4P1OL selectivity
slightly increased from 56.2 to 68.6% at the calcination temperatures from 600 to 1000 oC.
The formation rate of 4P1OL simply increased: the highest 4P1OL formation rate over m-
ZrO2-1000 was 1.35 mmol h-1 m-2, whereas the selectivity was only 68.8% (Table S1). Thus,
it was found that 20-MgO/ZrO2 showed the selective catalytic features at a calcination
temperature of 800 oC.
Figure 1 displays the effects of reaction temperature on the catalytic activity of 20-
MgO/ZrO2-800. The 1,5-PDO conversion increased with increasing the reaction temperature
while the 4P1OL selectivity reached the highest at 400 oC. Besides, the selectivities to both
THP and DVL decreased rapidly until 375 oC and then calmed down after that. Instead, the
by-products such as pentanal, 1-pentanol, and 5-hydroxypentanal were produced
preferentially at high temperatures over 400 oC. Thus, the most efficient reaction
temperature for the 4P1OL production is 400 oC. Figure 2 also shows the stabilities of 20-
MgO/ZrO2-800 catalyst in the conversion of 1,5-PDO at 400 oC. Stable catalytic activity
was observed at conversion of 96% with the 4P1OL selectivity over 75% at W/F = 1.8 h and
400 oC for 10 h of time on stream. The effect of contact time (W/F) on the catalytic
dehydration is summarized in Table S2.
3.2 Characterizations of modified m-ZrO2 catalysts
Figure 3 shows the XRD patterns of MgO/ZrO2 catalysts. The major diffraction
peaks attributed to monoclinic phase of ZrO2 were observed together with small peaks
8

assigned to tetragonal phase, which were detected from all the samples. Tetragonal phase
grew stronger with increasing the calcination temperature while no obvious change was
observed with the MgO content increasing from 10 to 30 mol% at a calcination temperature
of 800 oC. Besides, the crystallinity of MgO was affected from both the calcination
temperature and MgO content.
Figure 4 shows the CO2-TPD profiles of 20-MgO/ZrO2 calcined at different
temperatures. Modification of m-ZrO2 not only increased the weak basic sites α (desorbed at
around 125 oC), which is similar with the support m-ZrO2, but also enhanced the formation
of a new kind of stronger basic sites β (desorbed at 200-500 oC). The results resemble those
of CaO/m-ZrO2 catalysts as reported in our previous work [23, 24, 26]. Both the number of
basic sites α and β decreased with increasing calcination temperature. However, the specific
surface areas of 20-MgO/ZrO2 were also decreased as a similar rate to the basic sites
decreased. Thus, the density of basic sites changed slightly when the calcination temperature
increased from 600 to 800 oC, as summarized in Table 3.
3.3 Adsorptive interaction between a reactant and catalyst surface
To evaluate the adsorptive interaction between the reactant and catalysts such as
20-MgO/ZrO2-800, pulse adsorption experiment was also carried out at a flow rate of 15
cm3 min-1 at 220 oC. Figure 5 shows the TCD signals of three adsorption-desorption cycles
for the injected adsorbates acetone, 1-decanol, 4P1OL and 1,5-PDO, of which the boiling
points are 56.5, 231, 141 and 239 oC [27], respectively. Acetone and 1-decanol were used as
references of low and high boiling points, respectively. The retention time of acetone, 1-
decanol, 4P1OL and 1,5-PDO are 0.060, 0.072, 0.064, and 0.109 min, respectively. The
FWHM of acetone, 1-decanol, 4P1OL and 1,5-PDO are 0.15, 0.14, 0.15, and 0.22 min,
9

respectively. The results obviously displayed the longer retention time and the broader peaks
of 1,5-PDO than the others, despite the differences in molecular weight and boiling points,
acetone, 1-decanol and 4P1OL, which showed almost the same retention time. Table 4
summarizes the FWHM and the retention time of 1,5-PDO and 4P1OL in the TCD signals
over the catalysts such as m-ZrO2-800, 20-MgO/ZrO2-800, and 20-CaO/ZrO2-800. Over 20-
MgO/ZrO2-800, the longest retention time and the broadest desorption peaks of 1,5-PDO
were observed. This indicates that the adsorptive interaction between 1,5-PDO and 20-
MgO/ZrO2-800 is stronger than those between 1,5-PDO and the other catalysts.
Previously, we have reported that CaO/ZrO2 selectively catalyzes the dehydration
of 1,4-butanediol to produce 3-buten-1-ol [26]. CaO/ZrO2 selectively produced 3-buten-1-ol
from 1,4-butanediol whereas MgO/ZrO2 showed inferior selectivity for the 3-buten-1-ol
formation. We also conducted the pulse adsorption experiment for 1,4-butanediol and 3-
buten-1-ol. Table 4 also summarizes the FWHM and the retention time of 1,4-butanediol
and 3-buten-1-ol in the TCD signals. Over 20-CaO/ZrO2-800, the longest retention time and
the broadest desorption peaks of 1,4-butanediol were observed. The large FWHM indicates
the adsorptive interaction between 1,4-butanediol and CaO/ZrO2 is stronger than the others,
as well as the present results of 1,5-PDO and MgO/ZrO2. As a reference, Table S3
summarizes adsorption data for various adsorbates on m-ZrO2-800, 20-MgO/ZrO2-800, and
20-CaO/ZrO2-800.
4. Discussion
4.1 Structure of modified ZrO2 catalysts related to 4P1OL formation from 1,5-PDO
Well-crystallized pure m-ZrO2 has been found selectively to produce unsaturated
alcohols rather than t-ZrO2 in the dehydration of 1,3-butanediol [28, 29], 2,3-butanediol [23,
10

24, 30], 1,4-butanediol [31-33] and 1,5-PDO [11]. High calcination temperatures, which can
contribute to a high crystallinity of pure m-ZrO2, obviously enhanced the formation rate of
4P1OL from 1,5-PDO (Table S1). This suggests that, on the surface of the pure m-ZrO2, the
density of active sites would increase with increasing calcination temperature. On the other
hand, the calcination at high temperatures results in the rapid decrease in the specific surface
area. Usually, the small specific surface area is not efficient for a high productivity. In this
study, MgO was found to be efficient as a modifier in the selective formation to 4P1OL
from 1,5-PDO. Especially, 20-MgO/ZrO2 showed the highest 4P1OL selectivity (Table 2).
However, in the m-ZrO2 catalysts modified with MgO, calcination at temperatures higher
than 900 oC could not enhance the formation rate of 4P1OL anymore (Table 3). The density
of active sites on the surface of 20-MgO/ZrO2 is not increased by calcination at high
temperatures. Here, there are also no great changes with the density of basic sites over 20-
MgO/ZrO2 calcined at 600-900 oC. This suggests that the active sites are correlated with the
basic sites.
Figure 3 indicates that modification of m-ZrO2 with MgO at high calcination
temperatures results in the formation of t-ZrO2 and MgO phases. Especially, the peaks
attributing to both t-ZrO2 and MgO phases increased obviously with increasing calcination
temperature from 600 to 900 oC. Since no 4P1OL was obtained from 1,5-PDO over pure
MgO (1,5-PDO conversion at 400 oC, 11.9%; the main products: THP, 14.3%; HPA, 19.5%;
DVL, 18.6%; unknown, 47.5%), the formation of MgO phase must waste the loaded MgO
modifier and decreased the 4P1OL production. Furthermore, calcination at high
temperatures made m-ZrO2 transfer to t-ZrO2 phase. Judging from the results of ineffective
t-ZrO2 catalyst for the 1,5-PDO dehydration as displayed in Table 1, the formed t-ZrO2
phase would be inactive. Sometimes, calcination leads better crystallinity of m-ZrO2 rather
than the formation of t-ZrO2 [34, 35]. In the present study, another possibility is that the
11

addition of MgO stabilized t-ZrO2 transformed from m-ZrO2. Several studies have showed
the details on the preparation of t-ZrO2 with MgO addition [36, 37]. Thus, the
transformation from m-ZrO2 to t-ZrO2 also wasted a part of MgO. On the other hand, the
dispersion of the inactive MgO and t-ZrO2 occupied the limited specific surface area and
resulted in decreasing the density of active sites. Thus, it could be explained that the
formation rate of 4P1OL over MgO/ZrO2 did not increase with increasing calcination
temperature over 800 oC (Table 3), whereas that over pure m-ZrO2 increased up to the
temperature of 1000 oC, as shown in Table S1.
4.2 Proposed reaction mechanism in the dehydration of 1,5-PDO to 4P1OL
Despite the negative changes of the structural transform of the ZrO2 modified with
MgO, the 4P1OL selectivity increased obviously and showed some correlation to the density
of basic sites (Table 3). Besides, as described in the previous report [11], the more acidic
catalysts such as SiO2-Al2O3 showed almost full 1,5-PDO conversion and high selective
productivity for THP rather than 4P1OL. The THP selectivity can be decreased efficiently
by loading basic metal oxides such as Li2O, Na2O, K2O, MgO, CaO, SrO, and BaO. It is
reasonable that the dehydration of 1,5-PDO into 4P1OL also need some basic sites while the
formation of THP from 1,5-PDO mostly depends on acidic sites. A small number of acidic
sites was detected from the pure m-ZrO2 while the modification with Li2O made it difficult
to be detected with the NH3-TPD method [11]. In the present study, it is still a hard work to
detect the acidity of MgO/ZrO2 with the same method. It indicates the decreasing in the
excess acidity, which is favorable for THP formation but not suitable for 4P1OL selectivity.
Judging from the formation rate of 4P1OL, it is almost the same level between m-ZrO2-800
and 20-MgO/ZrO2, and the addition of basic MgO to ZrO2 reduces the formation of THP
(Table 2).
12

We have considered the selectivity to unsaturated alcohols strongly depends on the
adsorption of diols on the specific surface [15, 38]. The adsorption model between 1,4-
butanediol and Er2O3 was also successfully simulated with density functional theory (DFT)
and paired interacting orbitals (PIO) calculation as acid-base concerted tridentate
coordination mechanism: tridentate interactions between a position-2 H atom of diol and an
O2- on Er2O3 and between the two terminal OH groups and two Er3+ [38].
The mechanism of 4P1OL production over m-ZrO2 should also be imaged as via
the acid-base concerted tridentate coordination, in which the basic site is for adsorption of
the position-2 H atom and the two acidic sites are for the two terminal OH groups (Scheme
1a), which is just as we imaged the adsorption structure for 1,4-butanediol [15, 26, 38, 39]
and the work of Zhang’s group [40]. On the other hand, THP was also produced via the
cyclodehydration of 1,5-PDO, which quite resembles the THF formation from 1,4-
butanediol in its reaction [26]. Thus, we also speculate the acid-base concerted adsorption
structure on ZrO2 for the THP formation in Scheme 1b.
As to the 20-MgO/ZrO2-800 catalyst, in which MgO content is 20 mol%, only
small peaks belong to t-ZrO2 and MgO phases were detected with the main diffraction peaks
attributed to the support m-ZrO2 (Fig. 3). However, basic sites generated on the surface of
pure MgO cannot produce 4P1OL and t-ZrO2 also showed low 4P1OL selectivity (Table 1).
It indicates that most of Mg2+ exist in the major m-ZrO2 for some new combination with
Zr4+ such as Mg-O-Zr heterolinkages in the same way as CaO/ZrO2 described in elsewhere
[23-26, 40]. However, different from Ca-O-Zr, which can be easily aggregated into CaZrO3
with the excess CaO or at high calcination temperatures, the new compound MgZrO3 cannot
be formed due to its thermal instability. In a similar way to the highly-dispersed Ca-O-Zr,
new acid-base sites could be generated on the surface of MgO/ZrO2 catalysts with a proper
MgO content and then calcined at suitable temperatures. The promotion of 4P1OL
13

formation could be related to the new acid-base balance generated from the Mg-O-Zr
linkages.
4.3 Adsorptive interaction between adsorbate and catalyst
The broadest FWHM for retention time of 1,5-PDO suggests the strongest
adsorption between 1,5-PDO and MgO/ZrO2 (Fig. 5 and Table 4). Table 4 compares the
adsorptive interaction between adsorbates, such as 1,5-PDO, 4P1OL, 1,4-butanediol, and 3-
buten-1-ol, and catalysts, such as m-ZrO2, MgO/ZrO2 and CaO/ZrO2, together with the
catalytic results of the selectivity to 4P1OL in the present dehydration of 1,5-PDO and that
to 3-buten-1-ol in the previous dehydration of 1,4-butanediol [26]. The strongest adsorptive
interaction between 1,5-PDO and MgO/ZrO2 as well as between 1,4-butanediol and
CaO/ZrO2 is presented. The strongest interaction shows the combination of reactants and the
better catalyst with high selectivity. Besides, there is no significant difference in the FWHM
of the unsaturated alcohols over all the tested catalysts. This also suggests that the
adsorptive interaction between 20-MgO/ZrO2-800 and the target product, 4P1OL, is as weak
as acetone and 1-decanol. The weak adsorption between the unsaturated alcohols and the
catalysts would attribute to the desorption of unsaturated alcohols without further reaction.
The strong adsorptive interaction between catalyst and reactant would be favorable for the
formation of these unsaturated alcohols from the corresponding diols.
It is reasonable that the strong adsorptive interaction between 1,5-PDO and
MgO/ZrO2 contributed to the high 4P1OL selectivity. The difference between 4P1OL and
1,5-PDO is that 1,5-PDO has two terminal OH groups in its molecule. The two OH groups
should be attributed to the adsorption of 1,5-PDO on the surface of catalysts. In addition, the
dehydration of 1,5-PDO into 4P1OL also requires the elimination of one terminal OH group
14

and a position-2 H atom for the desorption of one water molecule. Thus, there must be some
adsorption sites for the terminal OH groups and the position-2 H. On the surface of pure m-
ZrO2, two Zr4+ act as the Lewis acidic sites for the adsorption of the two OH groups while
an O2- act as the Lewis basic sites for that of a position-2 H, as imaged in Scheme 1a.
Similarly, the formation of 4P1OL from 1,5-PDO over MgO/ZrO2 could be imaged as
Scheme 1c, in which one of the Lewis acid (Zr4+) is replaced by Mg2+. It has been reported
that the standard molar Gibbs free energy for Mg(OH)2 formation from MgO is lower than
that of Zr(OH)4 formation from ZrO2 [41]. On the surface of MgO/ZrO2, Mg2+ strongly
adsorbs one of the OH group and activates the elimination of the terminal -OH group from
1,5-PDO, as imaged in Scheme 1c. Due to the increase in the strength and density of basic
sites, which must be generated from the O2- of Mg-O-Zr, the elimination of the position-2 H
atom should be promoted. After the elimination of one terminal OH group and the position-
2 H, the formed 4P1OL is adsorbed on the catalysts weakly. Finally, the desorption of
4P1OL proceeds without further reaction. Thus, Scheme 1c is the most probable reaction
mechanism for the high 4P1OL selectivity over MgO/ZrO2 catalysts.
5. Conclusions
Vapor-phase dehydration of 1,5-PDO was investigated over several modified
monoclinic ZrO2 catalysts. The formation of 4P1OL from 1,5-PDO was efficiently enhanced
by the modification of m-ZrO2 with MgO. A high 4P1OL selectivity of 83.3% at the 1,5-PDO
o
conversion of 59.1% was obtained over 20-MgO/ZrO2-800 at W/F=0.3 h and 400 C. CO2-
TPD revealed that MgO supported on m-ZrO2 and calcination at a proper temperature of 800
oC generated more basic sites for the formation of 4P1OL from 1,5-PDO. At temperatures
higher than 800 oC, however, XRD patterns showed that excess MgO content and calcination
MgO/m-ZrO2 made the loaded Mg2+ move into ZrO2 and promoted the transformation to
tetragonal ZrO2, which is not efficient for the 4P1OL formation from 1,5-PDO. In addition,
15

stable catalytic conversion of 96% with the 4P1OL yield of 72% was observed at W/F=1.8 h
and 400 oC for 10 h of time on stream.
Apulse adsorption reveals that adsorptive interaction between 1,5-PDO and MgO/ZrO2
is stronger than the other catalysts. The adsorption-desorption evaluation also displayed the
stronger adsorptive interaction between 1,4-butanediol and CaO/ZrO2, which shows the
selective formation of 3-buten-1-ol in the dehydration of 1,4-butanediol [26]. These results
help us to understand the acid-base concerted tridentate coordination adsorption for the
formation unsaturated alcohols from alkanediols.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at a WEB page.
16

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18

Table 1 Dehydration of 1,5-PDO over zirconia-based catalysts a
Catalyst
Conversion
(mol%)
Selectivity (mol %) b
4P1OL
THP
DVL
Others
c
t-ZrO2
62.9
85.1
42.5
67.2
54.6
58.1
79.4
61.6
50.5
27.6
62.4
64.4
61.0
57.4
77.7
67.3
46.8
49.4
66.3
25.3
10.3
9.9
2.4
2.1
8.8
7.6
8.5
4.3
4.0
8.8
9.2
3.7
m-ZrO2-800
10.2
16.5
21.5
26.4
11.4
14.8
26.8
25.2
1-Li2O/ZrO2-700
1-Na2O/ZrO2-700
1-K2O/ZrO2-700
5-MgO/ZrO2-800
5-CaO/ZrO2-800
5-SrO/ZrO2-800
5-BaO/ZrO2-800
7.8
6.6
14.0
17.5
16.2
a Average conversion and selectivity between 1 h to 5 h. Catalyst weight, W = 0.5 g; W/F =0.3 h.
Reaction temperature, 400oC; N2 flow rate, 30 cm3 min-1.
b 4P1OL, 4-penten-1-ol; THP, tetrahydropyran; DVL, δ-valerolactone. Others include 1,4-pentadiene, pentanal, 1-
pentanol and 5-hydroxypentanal.
c Cited from Ref. [11].
19

Table 2 Dehydration of 1,5-PDO over m-ZrO2 modified with MgO a
MgO
content
(mol%)
0
S.A.
Conversion
Selectivity (mol %)b
Formation rate
of 4P1OL
(m2 g-1)
27.7
(mol%)
85.1
4P1OL
62.4
THP
25.3
6.6
DVL
2.1
Others
10.2
11.4
11.6
7.9
(mmol h-1 m-2)
0.61
5
25.4
58.1
77.7
4.3
0.57
10
24.1
57.3
78.2
6.0
4.2
0.59
20
23.4
59.1
83.3
5.1
3.7
0.67
30
17.3
46.5
77.0
7.2
4.8
11.1
0.66
a Average conversion and selectivity between 1 h to 5 h. Catalyst weight, W = 0.5 g; W/F =0.3 h.
Calcined at 800oC; Reaction temperature, 400oC; N2 flow rate, 30 cm3 min-1.
b 4P1OL, 4-penten-1-ol; THP, tetrahydropyran; DVL, δ-valerolactone. Others include 1,4-pentadiene, pentanal, 1-pentanol
and 5-hydroxypentanal.
20

Table 3 Dehydration of 1,5-pentanediol over 20-MgO/ZrO2 calcined at different temperatures a
Calcination
temperature
S.A.
Density of Conversio
Selectivity (mol %) c
Formation rate
of 4P1OL
basic sites b
n
(oC)
(m2 g-1)
27.7
(nm-2)
(mol%)
85.1
4P1OL THP DVL Others (mmol h-1 m-2)
m-ZrO2-
800
0.9
62.4
25.3 2.1
10.2
0.61
600
700
800
900
1000
47.4
30.2
23.4
17.5
8.5
2.8
3.5
2.7
2.3
-
58.4
62.5
59.1
46.0
43.4 d
79.9
82.9
83.3
80.5
80.3
6.2
4.6
5.1
5.0
5.2
4.9
4.0
3.7
4.0
4.3
9.0
8.5
0.31
0.55
0.67
0.67
0.65
7.9
10.5
10.2
a Average conversion and selectivity between 1 h to 5 h. Catalyst weight, W = 0.5 g; W/F =0.3 h.
Reaction temperature, 400oC; N2 flow rate, 30 cm3 min-1.
b Based on the number of basic sites, which was detected with the CO2-TPD method, and the specific surface area, which
was measured with the BET method.
c 4P1OL, 4-penten-1-ol; THP, tetrahydropyran; DVL, δ-valerolactone. Others include 1,4-pentadiene, pentanal, 1-pentanol
and 5-hydroxypentanal.
d Catalyst weight, W = 1.0 g; W/F = 0.6 h.
21

Table 4 Adsorption parameter of several reactants over zirconia-based catalysts
Catalyst a
FWHM /min (retention time /min)b
4P1OL 1,4-Butanediol 3-Buten-1-ol
Selectivity (mol %)
1,5-PDO
4P1OLc 3-Buten-1-
old
m-ZrO2
0.091 (0.18) 0.060 (0.14)
0.082 (0.18)
0.079 (0.15)
0.103 (0.19)
0.061 (0.14)
0.060 (0.15)
0.061 (0.14)
62.4
83.3
38.9
50.5 d
86.9 f
MgO/ZrO2
0.064 (0.15)
0.109 (0.22)
CaO/ZrO2 0.090 (0.19) 0.064 (0.14)
67.3 e
a Catalyst: m-ZrO2, m-ZrO2-800; MgO/ZrO2, 20-MgO/ZrO2-800; CaO/ZrO2, 20-CaO/ZrO2-800.
b Adsorption temperature, 220oC; He flow rate, 15 cm3 min-1.
c This work, the dehydration of 1,5-PDO at 400oC in Table 1.
d The dehydration of 1,4-butanediol at 350oC; the data cited from Ref. [26].
f CaO/ZrO2 is 2-ZrO2+7-CaO/ZrO2-800 [26]
e
CaO/ZrO2 is 5-CaO/ZrO2-800.
22

100
80
60
40
20
0
1,5-PDO conv.
4P1OL
THP
DVL
14PDE
300
400
Reaction temperature / oC
Figure 1 Changes in catalytic activity of 20-MgO/ZrO2-800 with reaction temperature. W/F = 0.3 h.
23

100
80
60
40
20
0
1,5-PDO Conversion
4P1OL Selectivity
0
2
4
6
8
10
Time on stream / h
Figure 2 Long term test of dehydration of 1,5-PDO over 20-MgO/ZrO2-800 at 400oC and W/F = 1.8
h.
24

▽
▼
MgO
t-ZrO2
20-MgO/ZrO2-900
▼
▼ ▼
▽
▼ ▽
30-MgO/ZrO2-800
20-MgO/ZrO2-800
10-MgO/ZrO2-800
20-MgO/ZrO2-700
20-MgO/ZrO2-600
m-ZrO2-800
20
30
40
50
60
70
2θ / degree
Figure 3 XRD profiles of MgO/ZrO2 modified with different MgO contents and calcined at
different temperatures.
25

α
β
20-MgO/ZrO 2-900
20-MgO/ZrO 2-800
20-MgO/ZrO 2-700
20-MgO/ZrO 2-600
m-ZrO2-800
0
200
400
600
800
Temperature / oC
Figure 4 CO2-TPD profiles of 20-MgO/ZrO2 calcined at different temperature.
26

acetone
1-decanol
4-penten-1-ol
1,5-pentanediol
0
1
2
3
4
Retention time / min
Figure 5 Changes in TCD signal of several adsorbates over MgO/ZrO2 sample with time.
The dotted lines mean the injection points of each pulse.
27

Figure 6 Image of adsorption of 1,5-pentanediol and 4-penten-1-ol on MgO/ZrO2.
28

(a)
(b)
(c)
Scheme 1 Proposed reaction mechanism for formation of 4P1OL (a) and THP (b) over m-ZrO2 and
4P1OL over MgO/ZrO2 (c).
29