title: Oxidation of glycerol to glycolate by using supported gold and palladium nanoparticles.
abstract: Glycolic acid is an important chemical that has uses as a cleaning agent as well as a chemical intermediate. At present glycolic acid is manufactured from either chloroacetic acid or from formaldehyde hydrocyanation, both routes being nongreen and using nonsustainable resources. We investigate the possibility of producing glycolate from the oxidation of glycerol, a sustainable raw material. We show that by using 1 % wt Au/carbon catalysts prepared using a sol-immobilization method glycolate yields of ca. 60 % can be achieved, using hydrogen peroxide as oxidant in an autoclave reactor. We describe and discuss the reaction mechanism and consider the reaction conditions that maximize the formation of glycolate.
authors.affiliation: Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK.
authors.forename: Meenakshisundaram
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sankar
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dimitratos
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: Albert F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Carley
authors.forename: Ramchandra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tiruvalam
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kiely
authors.forename: Damian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Graham J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hutchings
mesh_terms: D002617:Chemical Industry / Q000379:methods; D005990:Glycerol / Q000737:chemistry*; D006016:Glycolates / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D006046:Gold; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010165:Palladium
chemical_list: D006016:Glycolates; D010165:Palladium; D006046:Gold; D005990:Glycerol