Highly Selective Copper Nanoparticles for the Hydrogenation of  a,b -Unsaturated Aldehydes in Liquid Phase

VICTORIA SOLEDAD GUTIERREZ; FABIANA NADOR; GABRIEL RADIVOY; VOLPE MARÍA ALICIA

APPLIED CATALYSIS A-GENERAL

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 464 p. 109 - 115

0926-860X

Unsupported  copper  (CuNPs),  3-4  nm  in  size,  are  obtained  from the  reduction  of  the corresponding  metal  chloride  through  an  electron  transfer  from  a  lithium  arenide. CuNPs  are  tested  for  the  liquid  phase  hydrogenation  of  cinnamaldehyde  in  batch conditions by using H 2 . High activity and selectivity to cinnamyl alcohol (87%, at high conversion) are reached. When CuNPs are supported on MCM-41 and on high surface area CeO 2 , TEM and XRD characterization shows that the nanometric size of copper is retained. For the hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde or of cinnamaldehyde, CuNPs/MCM-41 and CuNPs/CeO 2  are  less active and less selective than unsupported nanoparticles. However the selectivity levels reached by these catalysts are higher than those obtained over noble metal (Au, Pt) based catalysts, tested under the same reaction conditions. The catalytic  properties  of  supported  and  unsupported  CuNPs  would  be related to the nanometric size of copper.