Green and Efficient Acquirement of Unsaturated Ether from Direct and Selective Hydrogenation Coupling Unsaturated Aldehyde with Alcohol by Bi-Functional Al-Ni-P Heterogeneous Catalysts

Abstract

In view of the industrial importance of high-grade unsaturated ether (UE) and the inconvenience of acquiring the compound, herein, a series of low-cost Al-Ni-P catalysts in robust AlPO4/Ni2P structure possessing novel bi-functional catalytic features (hydrogenation activation and acid catalysis) were innovated, and testified to be efficient for directly synthesizing UE with a superior yield up to 97% from the selective hydrogenation coupling carbonyl of unsaturated aldehyde (cinnamaldehyde or citral) with C1–C5 primary or secondary alcohol under 0.1 MPa H2 and 393 K. The integrated advantages of high efficiency, green manner and convenient operation of the present heterogeneous catalytic system gave the system potential for feasibly harvesting high-grade unsaturated ether in related fine chemical synthesis networks.

Exclusive Papers on Environmentally Friendly Catalysis in China

“…There is a possibility to synthesize UE via the hydrogenation coupling of unsaturated aldehyde (UA) with alcohol [19,20]. Chen and coworkers [21] performed a study on the green and efficient synthesis of unsaturated ether from direct and selective hydrogenation coupling of unsaturated aldehyde with alcohol over bi-functional (hydrogenation activation and acid catalysis) Al-Ni-P heterogeneous catalysts. The authors noted that the bi-functional Al-Ni-P catalysts were efficient in the direct synthesis of UE (yield = 97%) from the selective hydrogenation coupling carbonyl of cinnamaldehyde or citral with C 1 -C 5 primary or secondary alcohol at 0.1 MPa H 2 pressure and 120 • C. It is believed that such a UE synthesis strategy possesses several integrated advantages (e.g., high efficiency, green manner, and convenient operation), which would provide a potential for feasibly harvesting high-grade UE in the related synthesis of fine chemicals.…”