Single atom MXene as viable catalyst for cinnamaldehyde reduction/oxidation

Title : Single atom MXene as viable catalyst for cinnamaldehyde reduction/oxidation

Abstract:

Cinnamyl alcohol is an important intermediate in both the pharmaceutical and perfumery industries where its production is achieved under heterogeneous catalysis with hydrogen at controlled pressure and acceptable temperature [1]. To reach this objective, several solid catalysts were considered as alternatives. However, to generate new improvements in their behavior this study recommends a new class of 2D solids, namely the MXenes [1], where M is an early single transition metal (e.g. Ti), X nitrogen or carbon, and T is a surface functional group with tunable polarized active sites. Starting from the present state of the art, this research also proposed a new approach focusing the synthesis of single atom MXenes through: i) the incorporation of the transition metals as Fe and Co (Fe(SA)-Ti₃C₂Cl_x; Co(SA)-Ti₃C₂Cl_x; Co,Fe(MSA)-Ti₃C₂Cl_x) in inorganic environments, and ii) the hydrogenation/oxidation of the double bonds of cinnamaldehyde in the presence of molecular hydrogen or oxygen.

In conclusion, these catalysts showed high performances for the hydroamination of 1-hexyne with n-butylamine, where the conversion increased significantly in the temperature range from 140 to 160 °C without changes in the product selectivity. Both regio-isomers preserved the stability under the reaction conditions. At 160 °C after 72 h, the anti-Markovnikov product has been produced with a TON of 583 h^–1.

Biography:

Prof. Vasile Parvulescu is professor emeritus at the University of Bucharest and Corresponding member at the Romanian Academy. His research focuses the development of catalysts for the synthesis of fine chemicals, production of energy, valorization of biomass and the protection of the environment.  To achieve this, structure-activity-selectivity relationships are established for the different types of heterogeneous catalysts (supported metal nano-particles, zeolites and molecular sieves, carbon-based materials, MOF, organic functionalized inorganic catalysts) using both in-situ and ex-situ techniques (XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis, Raman, XPS, etc).