Ruthenium nanoparticles supported over mesoporous TiO2 as an efficient bifunctional nanocatalyst for esterification of biomass-derived levulinic acid and transfer-hydrogenation reactions†
Abstract
We have supported ruthenium nanoparticles (NPs) over a mesoporous TiO2 material (Ru@MTiO2) having nanoscale porosity and a high BET surface area. Wide-angle powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra (UV-vis) and N2 sorption studies are used to characterize the Ru@MTiO2 material. This nanostructured ruthenium supported over a TiO2 material exhibited excellent bifunctional catalytic activity in the esterification of levulinic acid and selective transfer hydrogenation reactions of nitroarenes under mild reaction conditions. This Ru@MTiO2 catalyst can be easily recovered from the reaction mixtures and reused five times without a significant loss of its reactivity and selectivity.
- This article is part of the themed collection: Editors Collection for RSC Advances - India