Abstract
The solvent free oxidation of benzyl alcohol to Benzaldehyde using bimetallic alloy nanoparticles supported over magnesia is a benign and improved frontier in catalysis. Benzaldehyde is an important industrial feed stock of immense significance in plastic, fine and chemical industries. In this study 1% Au:Pd NPs was synthesized using sol immobilization method over different magnesia (MgO) supports. The composite nanoalloys were characterized using Nitrogen adsorption BET, X- ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The efficacy of Pd:Au/MgO, as a basic solid catalyst, has been tested for benzyl alcohol oxidation. The synthesized composite catalyst Pd:Au/MgO-4 showed high initial activity for freshly prepared catalysts with remarkable activity. This activity declined rapidly with number of runs, which could result from sintering of the support, agglomeration and leaching of active phase. Furthermore, MgO-3 exhibits good stability after 2nd runs, while MgO-5 and MgO-2 revealed marked increasing in activity after the 2nd runs due surface modification and exposure of active sites during reaction.