Hydroformylation: Fundamentals, Processes, and Applications in Organic Synthesis

Highly active and selective bimetallic AgCu/SiC-powder catalysts have been prepared by a facile method for the gas-phase selective oxidation of alcohols (such as 99.3% benzyl alcohol conversion and 99.6% benzyl aldehyde selectivity). The catalytic activity can maintain at least 200 h compared with Cu/SiC (only within 10 h). The formation of Ag-Cu2O ensembles brings about enhanced improvement both in conversion and stability. The XPS results reveal that large amounts of Ag0-Cu2O active sites formed after pre-activation process and Cu2O sites play a dominant role in benzyl alcohol oxidation reaction. Dehydrogenation reaction process has also been confirmed by O2-TPD.