X. Liu et al. / Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical 252 (2006) 176–180
Table 1
177
lar sieve (TEOS as silica precursor) that was prepared according
PerformanceofcatalystforCTHof2-phenyl-2-propanolbyHCOOHasH-donor
at 80 C for 4 h
to the reference [14] were used as the carriers of catalysts.
Their BET surface areas are 215, 1080 and 1023 m /g, respecti-
◦
a
2
vely.
Catalyst
Conversion of
ArPrOH (%)
Selectivity to
i-PrAr (%)
Yield of
i-PrAr (%)
The supported catalysts were prepared as follows. The acti-
vated carbon was added into 0.01 M aqueous solution of the
Pd/C
Pd/C
Pt/C
Ru/C
Pd/␥-Al2O3
Pd/MCM-41
95.2
92.6
53.4
37.1
35.8
33.1
98.4
97.1
1.2
–
11.1
3.9
93.7
89.9
0.6
–
4.0
1.3
◦
b
active metal precursors under stirring at 60 C, and the pH value
of the slurry solution was adjusted to 6–7 by the aqueous solution
of NaHCO3. After 2 h, the solid sample was filtered and dried
at room temperature. Pd/Al2O3 and Pd/MCM-41 were prepared
◦
by an impregnation method and calcined at 550 C for 5 h in air.
ArPrOH: 2-phenyl-2-propanol; i-PrAr: isopropylbenzene.
◦
The catalysts should be treated with H2 at 120 C for 1 h before
a
1.5 mmol ArPrOH, 3 mmol HCOOH, 0.2 g catalyst, 10 ml EtOH and 2 ml
they were used.
H2O.
b
The active metal loading on the catalysts was about 3.8%
Untreated.
(
wt.) that was determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic
emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), which was done on an IRIS
3.2. Effect of the support
1
000 (Thermo Elemental, USA) instrument.
The XRD patterns of the catalysts were determined on a
Riguku D-MAX RB X-ray diffractometer at 40 kV and 40 mA,
and the radiation source was Cu K␣.
The catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis of 2-phenyl-2-propanol
was operated as follows. 2-Phenyl-2-propanol (1.5 mmol),
hydrogen donor (3 mmol), catalyst (0.2 g) and ethanol solvent
Effects of the support on the catalytic performance of the
supported palladium catalysts are shown in Table 1. The results
show that Pd/C reduced or unreduced behaves a high activity for
the transfer hydrogenolysis of ArPrOH. When MCM-41 or ␥-
Al2O3 is used as the support, the catalytic performance of the Pd
catalyst is remarkably lower than that of Pd/C. For the ␥-Al2O3
support, its comparable stronger surface acidity would promote
the dehydration of 2-phenyl-2-propanol to ␣-methyl styrene to
reduce the selectivity to isopropylbenzene, and its low surface
area would reduce its activity. Pd/MCM-41 has a larger surface
area like Pd/C, but its performance is very low and is similar to
that of Pd/␥-Al2O3. This implies that the performance of the Pd
catalyst is independent of the support’s surface area, anddepends
on the properties of the Pd sites on the support.
(
10 ml EtOH and 2 ml H2O) were put into a flask equipped
with a water-cooled condenser and a magnetic stirrer. The flask
◦
was placed in an oil bath and maintained at 80 C and atmo-
sphere. After the reaction with reflux was carried out for 4 h,
the hydrogenolysis products were withdrawn and analyzed by
the gas chromatograph of Perkin-Elmer Autosystem XL with
the FID detector and fused silica capillary column (methyl 5%
phenyl silicone, 25 m × Ø0.32 mm).
The hydrogenolysis products obtained with HCOOH as
hydrogen donor over the Pd/C catalyst were analyzed qualita-
tively by GC-Mass (HP 5890 II gas chromatograph and Micro-
mass GCT CA 055) and GC-IR (HP 5890 II gas chromatograph
and a BIO-RAD FTS-40 IR spectrometer).
Fig. 1 shows the XRD patterns of the palladium catalysts
untreated. For Pd/␥-Al2O3 and Pd/MCM-41, their XRD patterns
display the diffraction peaks of PdO that is formed during cal-
cination in air. It is interesting there are the diffraction peaks of
0
metallic Pd in the XRD spectrum of the Pd/C catalyst untreated,
The initial pH value of the reaction mixtures was measured
by the pH meter (Leici PHS-3C, Shanghai).
which is the reason of the Pd/C catalyst untreated having a great
catalytic activity (Table 1, entry 2). In the preparation of Pd/C,
after H2PdCl4 in aqueous solution adsorbs on the surface of
3
. Results and discussion
3
.1. Performance of the catalyst
Using HCOOH as hydrogen donor, the catalytic transfer
hydrogenolysis of 2-phenyl-2-propanol over the Pd/C, Pt/C and
Ru/C catalyst was studied. As shown in Table 1, the catalytic
activity of Pd/C is far superior to the Pt/C and Ru/C catalysts.
Over the Pd/C catalyst reduced, the conversion of ArPrOH and
the selectivity to cumene reaches 95.2 and 98.4%, respectively.
Palladium is widely used for the cleavage of the benzylic–O
bonds, because it has a high activity for hydrogenolysis with a
low activity for the saturating aromatic rings. However, plat-
inum and ruthenium catalysts are usually effective catalyst
to saturate aromatic rings with minimal hydrogenolysis [11].
Therefore, for the catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis of 2-phenyl-
2
low.
-propanol, the performance of Pt/C or Ru/C catalyst is very
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of the catalysts untreated of Pd/Al2O3 (a), Pd/MCM-41
(b) and Pd/C (c). ꢀ, Pd ; ᭹, PdO.
0