Titania-catalysed oxidative dehydrogenation of ethyl lactate: Effective yet selective free-radical oxidation

Article abstract of DOI:10.1039/c4gc00191e

We research here the catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of ethyl lactate, as an alternative route to ethyl pyruvate. Testing various solid catalysts (Fe₂O₃, TiO₂, V₂O ₅/MgO-Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, CeO₂ and ZnO), we find that simple and inexpensive TiO₂ efficiently catalyses this reaction under mild conditions. Furthermore, molecular oxygen was used as the terminal oxidant. Importantly, this reaction runs well also using inexpensive commercial solvent mixtures. Both the desired reaction and the by-products formation follow a free-radical mechanism. Remarkably, adding activated carbon, a solid radical scavenger, hardly affects the catalytic activity, but enhances the product selectivity. This is because this solid radical scavenger hampers the formation of undesired products in solution, without suppressing the oxidation at the catalyst surface. This journal is the Partner Organisations 2014.

Full text of DOI:10.1039/c4gc00191e

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Titania-catalysed oxidative dehydrogenation of
ethyl lactate: effective yet selective free-radical
oxidation†
Cite this: Green Chem., 2014, 16,
3358
Enrique V. Ramos-Fernandez,* Norbert J. Geels, N. Raveendran Shiju* and
Gadi Rothenberg
We research here the catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of ethyl lactate, as an alternative route to ethyl
pyruvate. Testing various solid catalysts (Fe2O3, TiO2, V2O5/MgO–Al2O3, ZrO2, CeO2 and ZnO), we find
that simple and inexpensive TiO2 efficiently catalyses this reaction under mild conditions. Furthermore,
molecular oxygen was used as the terminal oxidant. Importantly, this reaction runs well also using in-
expensive commercial solvent mixtures. Both the desired reaction and the by-products formation follow
a free-radical mechanism. Remarkably, adding activated carbon, a solid radical scavenger, hardly affects
the catalytic activity, but enhances the product selectivity. This is because this solid radical scavenger
hampers the formation of undesired products in solution, without suppressing the oxidation at the catalyst
surface.
Received 4th February 2014,
Accepted 22nd April 2014
DOI: 10.1039/c4gc00191e
www.rsc.org/greenchem
pyruvic acid. Practically, however, the main problem with this
approach is there is no efficient catalyst for it.
Introduction
Pyruvic acid and its esters are used as intermediates for per-
fumes, food additives, and electronic materials. They are also
attractive as raw materials for various bioactive substances
such as antiviral drugs.1,2 Currently, pyruvic acid is produced
via dehydrative decarboxylation of tartaric acid. The reaction
typically runs in liquid phase, but was also adapted for vapor-
phase flow operations using a silica-supported pyrosulfate
catalyst (K2S2O7/SiO2), giving ethyl pyruvate continuously in
good yields (60%), albeit at the high temperature of 300 °C.3
The problem is that this reaction requires excess KHSO4 as a
dehydrating agent, leading to an expensive and wasteful
process. Pyruvate can also be obtained by a microbial process,
based primarily on strains of yeast and E. coli. However, both
strains require precise regulation of media composition during
fermentation and complex supplements.4
ð1Þ
Due to the importance of pyruvic acid and its derivatives,
these reactions were studied by several groups, using both gas
and liquid phases. In gas-phase reactions, various solid cata-
lysts were used, including TeO2 and MoO3.5–9 These processes
give high yields of pyruvate, but they are energy-intensive. Con-
versely, the liquid-phase option needs no vaporizing. Hayashi
et al. reported catalytic conversions of lactic acid to pyruvic
acid in an aqueous phase.5,7,10 They found that, while pyruvic
acid was not formed on plain Pd/C, doping the catalyst by
either lead, bismuth or tellurium gave spectacular results at
90 °C.5,9,10 That said, this reaction used also an excess of
NaOH, adjusting the pH to 8, and practically starting from the
lactate ion. Ideally, one would prefer a reaction at low tempera-
ture, using an inexpensive catalyst (no noble metals), in
absence any strong base or solvent. But this is much easier
said than done.
Alternatively, pyruvic acid or esters can be synthesised via
the catalytic oxidation of lactic acid/esters, e.g. converting ethyl
lactate 1 to ethyl pyruvate 2 (eqn (1)).5 In this case, the whole
process would be based on biomass-derived feedstocks, and
the reaction could in theory proceed directly from lactic acid to
Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box
94157, 1090 GD Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: e.v.ramosfernandez@uva.nl,
Addressing this challenge, we screened various simple
oxides with the aim of finding a catalyst that can work in the
oxidative dehydrogenation of lactic acid. After several experi-
ments, we chose titania (TiO2) as a catalyst. Several intriguing
n.r.shiju@uva.nl; http://hims.uva.nl/hcsc
†Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Graphs showing the reac-
tion profiles for leaching tests and catalyst reuse experiments. See DOI: 10.1039/
c4gc00191e
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properties make titania not only a useful support but also an CeO2 and ZnO) as catalysts. The performance of all the cata-
active phase. Titania can chemisorb alcohols at low tempera- lysts were tested in a batch reactor, monitoring the consump-
tures dissociatively.11,12 It can also strongly adsorb oxygen tion of ethyl lactate 1 and the production of ethyl pyruvate 2
(∼50 kJ mol−1) at room temperature,13,14 and it has a rich (eqn (1)). In all cases no solvent was used and the catalyst :
surface chemistry, which can support free-radical processes.
substrate ratio was kept constant at 100 : 1 w/w. Four materials,
However, until now titania has mainly been studied as a Fe2O3, ZrO2, CeO2 and ZnO, showed <5% conversion after
support of active phases, photocatalysts or oxidation catalysts 24 h, and were therefore discarded. Another, V2O5/MgO–Al2O3
using H2O2. Here we report that titania is an effective noble showed good catalytic activity in the first run. However, control
metal-free catalyst for selective oxidation of ethyl lactate into experiments showed that this was due to leaching of vanadium
ethyl pyruvate using molecular oxygen under mild conditions. species into solution, and no conversion was found in sub-
We study the reaction conditions and explain the reasons for sequent runs. Happily, we found that titania was both active
high product selectivity.
and selective at low conversions. Thus, we decided to focus on
this catalyst.
We then investigated the textural properties of the titania.
It is a mesoporous material with a mean pore size of 3.6 nm
and a surface area of 125 m2 g−1. Powder X-ray diffraction
showed sharp and well-defined peaks. The anatase phase is
predominant (>50%), but brookite and rutile are also present.
Intrigued by the fact that titania was working where suppo-
sedly similar oxides were not, we decided to measure the
strength of the interactions of alcohols on the catalyst surface.
This was done using microcalorimetry (see Experimental
section for details). However, since ethyl lactate has a high
boiling point (151–155 °C), direct measurement of its inter-
action with TiO2 calorimetrically is difficult. Instead, we
measured the enthalpies of adsorption of low boiling point
alcohols with different chemical properties. By comparing
these properties with those of ethyl lactate, we could estimate
the interaction between ethyl lactate and titania. Fig. 1 shows
the vapour adsorption isotherms for t-butanol, i-propanol and
Experimental
Materials and instrumentation
TiO2 (125 m2 g−1) and activated carbon (960 m2 g−1 15
were
)
supplied by Eurotitania and Calgon, respectively. Other chemi-
cals were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich or Air Liquide and
used as received. Adsorption isotherms and differential heats
of adsorption are accessed directly by a manometric set-up
combined with a micro-calorimeter (Calvet C80, Setaram).16,17
The calorimeter used for these experiments is of the Calvet
type. It measures the heat flux in and/or out of the sample cell,
and can be operated isothermally at a fixed temperature. Gas
or vapour can be fed into the system by a piston, that can
introduce a full, 1/2 stroke or 1/4 stroke. The introduction
pressure cannot be higher than 100 kPA. Two pressure trans-
ducers with different sensitivities allow an accurate measure-
ment of pressure, of the gas phase in contact with the sample,
from 0 kPa to 10 kPa and from 0 kPa to 1000 kPa. The system
has two independent data acquisition systems, one for the
manometric (isotherm) data, the other for the calorimetric
data. A detailed description of the experimental system is
given elsewhere.18,19 Reaction samples were analysed on a gas
chromatograph (Interscience GC8000) equipped with a FID
and a capillary DB-1 column, using He as carrier gas, and an
external standard.
Procedure for catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation
The liquid phase oxidation of ethyl lactate 1 was carried out in
a 400 ml stirred autoclave (Biometa, fitted with a system for
liquid sampling) at 403 K and at constant pressure of 1 MPa of
pure oxygen. The catalyst (2 g) was immersed in 200 g of ethyl
lactate. In experiments using a solvent, mass ratio of 1 : 1
(solvent : reactant) was used. After flushing the reactor with
pure oxygen thrice, the temperature was raised to 403 K. Zero
time was taken at this moment and stirring was switched on.
Reaction progress was monitored by GC.
Results and discussion
Fig. 1 Differential heat of adsorption against the coverage for different
alcohols on TiO2 (top) and vapour adsorption isotherms of different
First, we tested several metal oxides in the oxidative dehydro-
genation of ethyl lactate (TiO2, Fe2O3, V2O5/MgO–Al2O3, ZrO2, alcohols on TiO2 (bottom).
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methanol. For all three, the majority of the adsorption takes
place at low relative pressures (p/p0 < 0.1), indicating strong
absorbate–absorbent interaction. This is especially pro-
nounced in the case of methanol. The differential heats of
adsorption profiles for the alcohols were similar, starting with
a high heat (115–140 kJ mol−1) and then decreasing slowly
until reaching the saturation of the sample, and thereafter
decreasing rapidly. The initial heats of adsorption vary, with
t-BuOH > i-PrOH > MeOH. In all cases, the heats of adsorption
are high in comparison with pure physisorption of alcohols
in an inert apolar porous solid, such as activated carbon,
(ΔH ∼ 50 kJ mol−1), again indicating a strong adsorption.11
This strong adsorption of the alcohol is significant, because
an enthalpy of 115–125 kJ mol−1 is of the same order of magni-
tude as the energy needed to activate the alcohol O–H bond.20
Thus, we can hypothesise that the ethyl lactate, which is quite
similar in structure to i-PrOH, can chemisorb on the surface
and thus start the dehydrogenation reaction. We also
measured the heat of adsorption of acetone (see ESI†). The
initial heat of adsorption is 102 kJ mol−1, which is significantly
lower than that of alcohols (∼120 kJ mol−1). This indicates that
alcohols have better affinity for TiO2 than ketones. Thus,
ethyl lactate is adsorbed most likely by a hydroxyl group
interaction.21
To ensure that our catalytic results are valid and reflect the
chemical reaction and not any other effects, we ran extensive
blank experiments, hot filtration experiments and reusability
tests (details in the ESI†). Particularly important were the
results found when we checked the mass transfer limitations.
Fig. 2 shows the catalytic performance of TiO2 on the oxidative
dehydrogenation of ethyl lactate (no solvent was added to this
reaction). The conversion increased with time reaching 60%
after 5 h. We found exactly the same reaction rate when the
stirring speed was doubled. This demonstrates that we are
in the chemical kinetic regime (no oxygen mass transfer
limitations).
However, the stirring speed influences the selectivity
towards ethyl pyruvate. Higher stirring speed induced lower
selectivity. This means that the oxidation is the first step and it
is not limited by oxygen concentration. Conversely, the for-
mation of by-products is a liquid phase reaction in which the
oxygen is not involved, and it is enhanced by the mixing. Note
that only ethyl pyruvate and polymeric species were detected.22
In order to avoid the polymerization, we followed different
strategies. Firstly, we used a solvent, decreasing the concen-
trations and thereby minimizing the polymerization. For this
particular strategy, high boiling point solvents are needed
since the reaction is performed at 130 °C. We tested chloroben-
zene, DMSO, water, diethylsuccinate, and two commercial
dibasic esters DBE-0 and DEB-9, all using a 100 : 1 w/w
substrate : catalyst ratio.
Fig. 2 Selectivity to ethyl pyruvate plotted against conversion (top) and
time-resolved conversion profile of ethyl lactate (bottom). The filled and
empty circles denote 1000 and 2000 rpm stirring, respectively.
after 24 h. Chlorobenzene is apolar, and the oxygen solubility
is limited. The reaction does not proceed, since the oxygen can
not reach the catalyst surface. The case of DMSO is particularly
interesting. It is a polar solvent in which oxygen can be dis-
solved and hence one would expect catalytic activity. However,
we did not find products even after 24 h. This may be because
DMSO is a good radical scavenger and the ethyl lactate
oxidation follows a free radical mechanism (see discussion
below).
Then, we moved to a less traditional high boiling point
solvent, diethyl succinate. Fig. 3 shows the results. The reac-
tion is slower compared to the reaction in the absence of a
solvent. However, the selectivity increases, reaching 75% at
50% conversion. Thereafter, it decreases due to polymeri-
zation. The dilution effect of the solvent is the key. To further
check it, we also analysed concentration effects. Fig. 4 shows
that increasing the ethyl lactate concentration, the reaction
rate is faster, which indicates that the reaction order is positive
with respect to the ethyl lactate.
The solvent influences the reaction pathways. Thus, water
induces a high reaction rate but it also leads to hydrolysis pro-
ducts. We could not detect ethyl pyruvate since the ester bond
is easily hydrolysed under these hydrothermal conditions.
Using chlorobenzene, we did not see any catalytic activity even
Note that adding a solvent increases the selectivity towards
ethyl pyruvate. The higher the concentration of the initial solu-
tion, the faster the selectivity decreases as conversion increases
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Fig. 3 Solvent effects on the product selectivity towards ethyl pyruvate
plotted against conversion (top) and time-resolved conversion profile of
Fig. 4 Solvent concentration effects on the selectivity to ethyl pyruvate
plotted against conversion (top) and the conversion profile of ethyl
lactate (bottom). Symbols denote the percentage of diethylsuccinate:
△
▽
▼
ethyl lactate (bottom). Symbols denote: Water , DBE-0 , DBE-9 ,
●
○
.
diethyl succinate , no solvent
●
○
△
▲
50 wt%. , 75 wt% , 25 wt% , no solvent . The catalyst : substrate
ratio was kept constant in all cases.
(at higher ethyl pyruvate concentrations, polymerisation domi-
nates). But while diethyl succinate is an acceptable solvent for
lab-scale reactions, it is too expensive for larger scale. We
therefore examined “dibasic ester” mixtures (DBE). These are
widely available, with many large-scale applications (paints
strippers, plasticisers, drilling fluids). We studied DBE-0
and DBE-9 (Sigma-Aldrich; mixtures of dimethyl glutarate,
dimethyl succinate and dimethyl adipate). Fig. 3 shows the
results. In terms of activity, all the solvents behave similarly.
DBE-9 gives better selectivity compared to no solvent, but still
lower than diethyl succinate, and DBE-0 is as good as diethyl
succinate.
This is already an economical improvement, but from a
green chemistry point of view the best would be to use no
solvent at all. That would be cleaner, cheaper, and give higher
reactor space-time yields. From the above experiments, we
knew three things: (i) TiO2 selectively catalyses the oxidation of
ethyl lactate to ethyl pyruvate; (ii) the decrease in selectivity is
due to polymerization of ethyl pyruvate in the liquid phase (iii)
The oxidation follows a free-radical mechanism. The last point
is supported by a recent report, that states that TiO2 can gen-
erate radicals in the absence of light.21 Armed with this knowl-
edge, we addressed the challenge of using no solvent yet still
reaching high selectivity in this free-radical reaction.
First, we tried suppressing the polymerization by adding
p-benzoquinone (in all the experiments with polymer inhibi-
tors, no solvent was used). After 24 h, no conversion was
observed. This may be due to the radical inhibition of the
p-benzoquinone at the surface of the catalyst, suppressing the
oxidation of ethyl lactate by preventing free-radical formation
at the surface. Thus, we needed an inhibitor that slows the
polymerization of ethyl pyruvate in solution, but doesn’t affect
the oxidation at the catalyst surface.
Considering that solid–solid kinetics are much slower than
solid–liquid ones,23,24 activated carbon is an interesting
radical scavenger.25 In theory, it can selectively hinder the for-
mation of free-radicals in solution, since its solid–solid contact
with TiO2 is less likely. Fig. 5 shows how activated carbon
affects the reaction. There is an induction period, which may
be due to the partial suppression of the radical formation
at the catalyst surface. Once the reaction starts, however, the
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Scheme 1 Proposed reaction mechanisms for the surface-catalysed
oxidative dehydrogenation of ethyl lactate to ethyl pyruvate.
with O2 to form –OOH species. The decomposition of this
species leads to OH• radical, which abstracts a second proton
of the alcohol to form ethyl pyruvate and water (see Scheme 1).
Though ceria and zirconia are oxides similar to TiO2, it is
not clear now what makes TiO2 unique. One reason may be
the weaker interaction of alcoholic group with ceria and zirco-
nia compared to TiO2. Secondly, ceria and zirconia may not be
able to generate free radicals thus making them less effective
for this reaction.
Conclusion
Fig. 5 Effect of activated carbon as solid radical scavenger on the
selectivity to ethyl pyruvate plotted against conversion (top) and the
In free-radical reactions, it may seem that the two Green
Chemistry principles of “avoid using solvents” and “focus on
selective reactions” are mutually exclusive, as one trades off
the other. Yet by understanding the reaction kinetics you can
tune the selectivity in this titania-catalysed oxidation of ethyl
lactate to ethyl pyruvate. Adding a small amount of active
carbon avoids the use of solvent and keeps the high product
selectivity. This is because the activated carbon decouples the
two free-radical processes in the system. By combining a solid
catalyst with a solid free-radical scavenger we can selectively
slow down the unwanted polymerisation of the product, ethyl
pyruvate. We hope that our fellow scientists will find this
useful in other free-radical catalytic oxidations.
○
conversion profile of ethyl lactate (bottom). Symbols denote: reaction
▲
without solvent,
0.5 wt% activated carbon added at t = 0 min,
△
0.5 wt% of activated carbon added at t = 120 min.
kinetics are similar to those of the reaction without solvent.
The selectivity towards ethyl pyruvate increases up to 70%.
To understand better this induction period, we ran
additional tests. The reaction was run for 2 h without any
inhibitor. Then activated carbon was added. The results
(Fig. 5) are striking. The moment one adds the activated
carbon the reaction is suppressed, but the selectivity remains
unchanged, i.e., no polymerization taken place. The activated
carbon inhibits the ethyl pyruvate polymerization in the liquid
phase. Thanks to this, we can avoid using solvents and still get
high selectivity.
Notes and references
Combining our results with previous studies,21 we can
propose a reaction mechanism (Scheme 1). The calorimetric
measurements show that alcohols are strongly adsorbed at the
surface of TiO2, with heats of adsorption twice that in inert
porous solids. Moreover, alcohols adsorb more strongly than
ketones. This indicates chemisorption. Indeed, this agrees
with published infrared and STM studies,14,26 which detected
titanium alkoxide and proton as products of the interaction of
TiO2 and alcohols.27,28 This proton binds to one of the electro-
philic oxygens near by the Ti alkoxide. The hydroxyl generated
by the ethyl lactate deprotonation is very reactive due to the
dislodging effect of the nucleophilic alkoxide and can react
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