“Liquid-phase synthesis of pseudoionones by aldol condensation of citral with acetone on Mg-based catalysts”

VERÓNICA K. DÍEZ; MARCOS CAPITANICH; CARLOS R. APESTEGUÍA; JUANA I. DI COSIMO

París, Francia

Congreso; 13th. International Congress on Catalysis; 2004

Synthesis of pseudoionones (PS) by aldol condensation of citral with acetone is highly relevant in fine chemistry because PS are the precursors of both a- and b-ionones which are widely used in fragrance and pharmaceutical industries. Nowadays, PS are commercially obtained by homogeneous catalysis using liquid bases. Thus, the development of new environmentally friendly processes using heterogeneous catalysis would present high technological impact.  However, only few reports are found in the literature concerning PS synthesis by heterogeneously-catalyzed processes  [1,2]. In this work we study the synthesis of PS on stable Mg-based solid catalysts showing different acid-base properties. Our goal was to develop novel solid catalysts for the selective synthesis of PS from citral and to elucidate the surface active species needed to promote this reaction.