1719-82-0Relevant articles and documents
Synthesis of terephthalic acid via Diels-Alder reactions with ethylene and oxidized variants of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
Pacheco, Joshua J.,Davis, Mark E.
, p. 8363 - 8367 (2014)
Terephthalic acid (PTA), a monomer in the synthesis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is obtained by the oxidation of petroleum-derived p-xylene. There is significant interest in the synthesis of renewable, biomass-derived PTA. Here, routes to PTA starting from oxidized products of 5- hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) that can be produced from biomass are reported. These routes involve Diels-Alder reactions with ethylene and avoid the hydrogenation of HMF to 2,5-dimethylfuran. Oxidized derivatives of HMF are reacted with ethylene over solid Lewis acid catalysts that do not contain strong Br?nsted acids to synthesize intermediates of PTA and its equally important diester, dimethyl terephthalate (DMT). The partially oxidized HMF, 5-(hydroxymethyl)furoic acid (HMFA), is reacted with high pressure ethylene over a pure-silica molecular sieve containing framework tin (Sn-Beta) to produce the Diels-Alder dehydration product, 4-(hydroxymethyl)benzoic acid (HMBA), with 31% selectivity at 61% HMFA conversion after 6 h at 190°C. If HMFA is protected with methanol to form methyl 5-(methoxymethyl)furan-2-carboxylate (MMFC), MMFC can react with ethylene in the presence of Sn-Beta for 2 h to produce methyl 4-(methoxymethyl) benzenecarboxylate (MMBC) with 46% selectivity at 28% MMFC conversion or in the presence of a pure-silica molecular sieve containing framework zirconium (Zr-Beta) for 6 h to produce MMBC with 81% selectivity at 26% MMFC conversion. HMBA and MMBC can then be oxidized to produce PTA and DMT, respectively. When Lewis acid containing mesoporous silica (MCM-41) and amorphous silica, or Br?nsted acid containing zeolites (Al-Beta), are used as catalysts, a significant decrease in selectivity/yield of the Diels-Alder dehydration product is observed.
Catalysis by framework zinc in silica-based molecular sieves
Orazov, Marat,Davis, Mark E.
, p. 2264 - 2274 (2016/03/05)
Microporous and mesoporous zincosilicates (e.g., CIT-6, VPI-8, Zn-MFI, and Zn-MCM-41) synthesized in the presence of alkali cations contain two broad types of Zn sites: one that is a dication analog of the monocation ion-exchangeable Al-site in aluminosilicates, while the other resembles isolated Zn sites on amorphous silica. The ratio of these sites varies, depending on the synthesis conditions of the zincosilicate. Post-synthetic strategies based on ion-exchange can alter the site distribution towards either population. Furthermore, post-synthetic introduction of isolated Zn sites of the latter type is possible for materials possessing silanol nests. Both types of sites behave as Lewis acid centers in probe-molecule IR spectroscopy, but have very different catalytic properties. Due to the unusually high adsorption energies of Lewis bases on such materials, Lewis acid catalysis is difficult at low temperatures and in solvents bearing Lewis basic functionality. However, at high temperatures, in hydrocarbon solvents, CIT-6 (Zn-beta) is able to selectively catalyze the Lewis-acid-catalyzed Diels-Alder cycloaddition-dehydration reactions of ethylene with methyl 5-(methoxymethyl)furan-2-carboxylate, a furan that can be derived quantitatively by partial oxidation of biomass-based 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. Additionally, zinc in silica-based molecular sieves is shown here to enable chemistries previously not accessible with framework Sn-, Ti- and Zr-based Lewis acid sites, e.g., the direct production of dimethyl terephthalate by Diels-Alder cycloaddition-dehydration reactions of ethylene and the dimethyl ester of furan-2,5-dicarboxilic acid.
Base-free oxidation of alcohols to esters at room temperature and atmospheric conditions using nanoscale Co-based catalysts
Zhong, Wei,Liu, Hongli,Bai, Cuihua,Liao, Shijun,Li, Yingwei
, p. 1850 - 1856 (2015/03/14)
The direct oxidation of alcohols to esters with molecular oxygen is an attractive and crucial process for the synthesis of fine chemicals. To date, the heterogeneous catalyst systems that have been identified are based on noble metals or have required the addition of base additives. Here, we show that Co nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped graphite catalyze the aerobic oxidation of alcohols to esters at room temperature under base-free and atmospheric conditions. Our Co@C-N catalytic system features a broad substrate scope for aromatic and aliphatic alcohols as well as diols, giving their corresponding esters in good to excellent yields. This apparently environmentally benign process provides a new strategy with which to achieve selective oxidation of alcohols.
