Thermally decomposed mesoporous Nickel Iron hydrotalcite: an active solid-base catalyst for solvent-free Knoevenagel condensation.

Thermal decomposition of co-precipitated Ni-Fe-HT materials led to the formation a mesoporous Ni-Fe-HT catalyst and we have demonstrated here its active role as solid and active catalyst for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction of various aldehydes with active methylene compounds (R-CH2-CN, where R=CN or CO2Et). High product yields are obtained at moderate temperature under solvent-free conditions and the catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture, simply by filtration and reused several times without a significant loss of its activity. Since these mesoporous metal oxides derived from the NiFe hydrotalcites, their basicity mediated abstraction of the acidic protons from the active methylene compounds was responsible for their catalytic activity under solvent-free conditions.

Calcium oxide supported gold nanoparticles as catalysts for the selective epoxidation of styrene by t-butyl hydroperoxide.

Gold nanoparticles are deposited on basic CaO supports as catalysts for the selective conversion of styrene into styrene oxide. Synthetic methods, gold loading and calcination temperatures are varied to permit an understanding of their influence on gold nanoparticle size, the presence of cationic gold species and the nature of interaction between the gold nanoparticles and the CaO support. Based on these studies, optimal conditions are designed to make the Au/CaO catalyst efficient for the selective epoxidation of styrene.

Energy-efficient syngas production through catalytic oxy-methane reforming reactions.

The considerable recent interest in the conversion of stranded methane into transportable liquids as well as fuel cell technology has provided a renewed impetus to the development of efficient processes for the generation of syngas. The production of syngas (CO/H2), a very versatile intermediate, can be the most expensive step in the conversion of methane to value-added liquid fuels. The catalytic oxy reforming of methane, which is an energy-efficient process that can produce syngas at extremely high space-time yields, is discussed in this Review. As long-term catalyst performance is crucial for the wide-scale commercialization of this process, catalyst-related studies are abundant. Correspondingly, herein, emphasis is placed on discussing the different issues related to the development of catalysts for oxy reforming. Important aspects of related processes such as catalytic oxy-steam, oxy-CO2, and oxy-steam-CO2 processes will also be discussed.

A novel route for in-situ H2O2 generation from selective reduction of O2 by hydrazine using heterogeneous Pd catalyst in an aqueous medium.

Hydrogen peroxide in high yields can be generated with high efficiency at mild conditions (25 degrees C and atmospheric pressure) with the formation of only environment-friendly by-products (N2 and H2O) by a reduction of O2 by hydrazine from its hydrate/salt with its complete conversion in a short reaction period (

Drastic increase of selectivity for H2O2 formation in direct oxidation of H2 to H2O2 over supported Pd catalysts due to their bromination.

Incorporation of bromide anions (1.0 wt%) in supported Pd catalysts (viz. Pd supported on Al2O3, ZrO2, SiO2, H-beta or Ga2O3) leads to a drastic increase in their selectivity for H2O2 formation in the direct oxidation of H2 to H2O2 by O2(at room temperature) in an aqueous acidic (0.03 M H3PO4) reaction medium; the selectivity increase is accompanied by a large decrease in the H2O2 decomposition activity of the catalysts.