title: Iron incorporated heterogeneous catalyst from rice husk ash.
abstract: Silica supported iron catalyst was prepared from rice husk ash (RHA) via the sol-gel technique using an aqueous solution of iron(III) salt in 3.0 M HNO3. The sample was dried at 110 degrees C and labeled as RHA-Fe. A sample of RHA-Fe was calcined at 700 degrees C for 5 h and labeled as RHA-Fe700. X-ray diffraction spectrogram showed that both RHA-Fe and RHA-Fe700 were amorphous. The SEM/EDX results showed that the metal was present as agglomerates and the Fe ions were not homogeneously distributed in RHA-Fe but RHA-Fe700 was shown to be homogeneous. The specific surface areas for RHA-Fe and RHA-Fe700 were determined by BET nitrogen adsorption studies and found to be 87.4 and 55.8 m(2) g(-1), respectively. Both catalysts showed high activity in the reaction between toluene and benzyl chloride. The mono-substituted benzyltoluene was the major product and both catalysts yielded more than 92% of the product. The GC showed that both the ortho- and para-substituted monoisomers were present in about equal quantities. The minor products consisting of 16 di-substituted isomers were also observed in the GC-MS spectra of both catalytic products. The catalyst was found to be reusable without loss of activity and with no leaching of the metal.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia. farook@usm.my
authors.forename: Farook
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.forename: Kalaivani
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kandasamy
authors.forename: Saraswathy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balakrishnan
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D001593:Benzyl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D002384:Catalysis; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors; D014050:Toluene / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D001593:Benzyl Compounds; D014050:Toluene; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; C021292:benzyl chloride; D007501:Iron