title: Catalysis of the kemp elimination by natural coals
abstract: Commercially available coals were found to be efficient heterogeneous catalysts of the Kemp elimination reaction in aqueous solutions. A pH-rate profile study suggests that catalysis originates from specific catalytic groups and not simply from the large graphitic surface area. The low-quality lignite coals, which exhibit similar catalytic efficiency per weight to that of molecularly imprinted polymers, are better catalysts for this reaction in comparison with the bituminous coals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Institute of Catalysis Science and Technology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa 32000, Israel, and Department of Molecular Biology and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scr.
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shulman
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Keinan