Synthesis of benzaldehyde with high selectivity using immobilized AuNPs and AuNPs@zeolite in a catalytic microfluidic system

Lab Chip. 2019 Sep 7;19(17):2866-2873. doi: 10.1039/c9lc00386j. Epub 2019 Jul 16.

Abstract

In the present work, gold based catalysts were synthesized and immobilized on the surface of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) microreactors. The microreactors were subsequently applied in a homemade microfluidic system for synthesizing benzaldehyde by oxidation of benzyl alcohol in water medium. The Au nanoparticles (NPs) immobilized on the inner surface of the microchannel showed a very high selectivity (94%) for benzaldehyde, while zeolite NPs exhibited only an adsorption feature to this reaction. Moreover, the results showed that the AuNP catalytic activity was maintained for at least 9 hours. However, the obtained conversion with AuNPs was only 20%, indicating a relatively low productivity. In comparison, AuNPs assembled on the surface of zeolite NPs (AuNPs@zeolite) and immobilized in the microchannel showed the best catalytic performance, as the highest benzaldehyde selectivity (>99%) with a relatively high benzyl alcohol conversion of 42.4% was achieved under the same conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example demonstrating the use of AuNP or AuNP@zeolite catalysts in a microsystem performing such high selectivity for benzaldehyde in water medium.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't