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Oxidation of Glycerol to Glycolate by using Supported Gold and Palladium Nanoparticles
Author(s) -
Sankar Meenakshisundaram,
Dimitratos Nikolaos,
Knight David W.,
Carley Albert F.,
Tiruvalam Ramchandra,
Kiely Christopher J.,
Thomas Damian,
Hutchings Graham J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.200900133
Subject(s) - glycolic acid , chemistry , catalysis , hydrogen peroxide , glycerol , autoclave , palladium , demineralization , green chemistry , inorganic chemistry , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry , reaction mechanism , materials science , lactic acid , genetics , enamel paint , bacteria , composite material , biology
Glycolic acid is an important chemical that has uses as a cleaning agent as well as a chemical intermediate. At present glycolic acid is manufactured from either chloroacetic acid or from formaldehyde hydrocyanation, both routes being nongreen and using nonsustainable resources. We investigate the possibility of producing glycolate from the oxidation of glycerol, a sustainable raw material. We show that by using 1 % wt Au/carbon catalysts prepared using a sol‐immobilization method glycolate yields of ca. 60 % can be achieved, using hydrogen peroxide as oxidant in an autoclave reactor. We describe and discuss the reaction mechanism and consider the reaction conditions that maximize the formation of glycolate.