Selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol under ambient conditions using polyionic nanoclay-supported gold/palladium nanoparticles

Oxidation of alcohols to their respective aldehydes, esters, and acids is a common value-added industrial process, though techniques often rely on harsh reaction conditions (e.g., high temperature, strong base, organic solvents, hydrothermal processes) to achieve rapid reaction turnovers. The incorporation of gold and palladium nano -particles facilitates the dehydrogenation and O2 reduction processes, respectively, and these advantages can be dually incorporated and enhanced using supported nanoparticle alloys. Herein, we utilize polyionic nanoclays (PINCs) as two-dimensional inorganic-organic architectures for supporting monometallic and bimetallic gold and palladium nanocatalysts for the model oxidation of benzyl alcohol to the corresponding aldehyde, ester, and acid. In addition, we present two new PINC surface chemistries (N-methylpyrrolidinium-and pyridinium-functionalized PINCs) and compare their performances as catalyst supports to show that catalyst enhancement is altered by the PINC surface chemistry. Reaction conditions are mild (aqueous, room temperature, open to atmosphere, weak or no base) yet reaction turnovers are comparable to those of more demanding literature accounts.