A two in one approach: renewable support and enhanced catalysis for sweetening using chicken feather bound cobalt(ii) phthalocyanine under alkali free environment

Abstract

Poultry waste chicken feathers, an inexpensive and abundantly available material has been used as a renewable support for immobilizing a cobalt phthalocyanine catalyst. The synthesized heterogeneous cobalt(II) phthalocyanine catalyst was used for the aerobic oxidation of mercaptans to the corresponding disulfides using ultrasonic irradiation under alkali free conditions. The significantly higher catalytic activity of the heterogeneous catalyst as compared to a homogeneous one can be attributed to the synergistic effect of the support matrix. In addition, the catalyst could easily be recovered and recycled for several runs without loss of activity, which makes the process greener and more cost-effective.