Water as an additive to enhance the ring opening of naphthalene

Abstract

Use of water as a reaction medium or additive to enhance reaction efficiency is an important topic in green chemistry, and ring opening and contraction reactions of aromatics are crucial for upgrading diesels. In this work, we investigated the effect of water on the yields of ring opening and contraction reactions of naphthalene. A series of catalysts, such as Rh₂O₃/HY zeolite, Mo–Ni oxide and their physical mixtures, were used as the catalysts. The influences of the amount of water, hydrogen pressure, reaction temperature and reaction time on the yields of the ring opening and contraction products (ROCP) were studied. It was found that Rh₂O₃/HY and Mo–Ni oxide showed an excellent synergistic effect for catalyzing the reaction, and water could be used as a green and efficient additive for enhancing the yield of the ROCP. At the optimized conditions, the yield of the ROCP could be as high as 63.3%. The mechanism for the effect of water on the reactions was discussed on the basis of control experiments.