Bimetallic Au/Pd nanoparticles were prepared and used to catalyze oxidation of alcohols in the poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)/CO2 biphasic system using O2 as the oxidant without adding any base.The catalytic activity of Au/Pd bimetal with different mole ratios was studied using benzyl alcohol as the substrate.It was found that bimetallic Au/Pd nanoparticles with Au:Pd=1:3.5 had higher catalytic activity than monometallic Au,Pd and the bimetallic Au/Pd nanoparticles with other molar ratios.The effect of CO2 pressure on the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and 1-phenylethanol in PEG/CO2 was investigated.It was demonstrated that CO2 pressure could be used to tune the conversion and selectivity of the reactions effectively.α,β-Unsaturated alcohols were also studied and found to be more reactive than benzyl alcohol and 1-phenylethanol.Recycling experiments showed that the Au/Pd/PEG/CO2 catalytic system could be recycled at least four times without reducing the activity.In addition,the catalytic system is clean and the products can be separated easily.
HE JinLing,WU TianBin,HU BaoJi,CHENG Yan,WU SuXiang,JIANG Tao & HAN BuXing* Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences
