Amino Acid-Aided Synthesis of a Hexagonal SrMnO3 Nanoperovskite Catalyst for Aerobic Oxidation

A simple and efficient synthetic method for preparing high-surface-area perovskites was investigated by focusing on the importance of the formation of an amorphous precursor. Hexagonal SrMnO 3 with high surface area was successfully synthesized by simple calcination of the amorphous precursor prepared using aspartic acid and metal acetates instead of metal nitrates , without pH adjustment. The specific surface area reached up to ca. 50 m 2 g -1 , which is much larger than that for SrMnO 3 synthesized by previously reported methods. The catalytic activity for heterogeneous liquid-phase aerobic oxidation was significantly improved in comparison with the polymerized complex method, and the present catalytic system was applicable to the oxidation of various substrates.