Selective oxidation of allyl alcohol to acrylic acid using palladium catalyst in base-free aqueous solution

Abstract

Acrylic acid, which is currently produced from petroleum, is an industrially important chemical with various applications. Production of acrylic acid from biomass-derived glycerol is being pursued for a more sustainable and environment-friendly method. In this work, selective oxidation of allyl alcohol, which can be produced from glycerol with high yield, into acrylic acid was investigated in base-free aqueous solution. Among the metal catalysts, palladium showed high activity on this reaction. Oxidation, hydration, and hydrogenation of allyl alcohol occurred simultaneously. When Pd nanoparticle catalysts were capped with starch, the production of hydrogenated species, propanal and propionic acid, were inhibited with a yield of acrylic acid up to 42.5%. The effects of reaction temperature and oxygen pressure were investigated.