A greener method to obtain a key intermediate of Vitamin E over Cu-ZSM-5

CLARA SAUX; LILIANA B. PIERELLA; MARÍA SOLEDAD RENZINI; SILVINA GOMEZ

INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMICAL RESEARCH

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2014 vol. 53 p. 11276 - 11283

0888-5885

The catalytic oxidation of 2,3,5-trimethylphenol was performed over transitionmetals modified ZSM-5 zeolites employing hydrogen peroxide as oxidant under mildreaction conditions. Catalysts samples were characterized by several techniques (XRD,FTIR, BET, AA) and cristallinity and orthorhombic symmetry was confirmed for all ofthem. Best catalytic results were obtained for Cu-ZSM-5 sample, so further activitystudies were done over this material. 2,3,5-trimethylbenzoquinone was obtained as themain product of the selective oxidation. Reaction parameters (nature of the solvent,hydrogen peroxide concentration, reaction time, catalyst mass, substrate initialconcentration and reaction temperature) were evaluated to reach the optimum reactionconditions. According to the obtained results, an apparent activation energy of 52.33kJ/mol was calculated.