title: In situ spectroscopic investigation of oxidative dehydrogenation and disproportionation of benzyl alcohol.
abstract: In the solvent free oxidation of benzyl alcohol, using supported gold-palladium nanoalloys, toluene is often one of major by-products and it is formed by the disproportionation of benzyl alcohol. Gold-palladium catalysts on acidic supports promote both the disproportionation of benzyl alcohol and oxidative dehydrogenation to form benzaldehyde. Basic supports completely switch off disproportionation and the gold-palladium nanoparticles catalyse the oxidative dehydrogenation reaction exclusively. In an attempt to provide further details on the course of these reactions, we have utilized in situ ATR-IR, in situ DRIFT and inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopic methods, and in this article we present the results of these in situ spectroscopic studies.
authors.affiliation: Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nowicka
authors.forename: Jan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Stewart F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Meenakshisundaram
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sankar
authors.forename: Giacomo M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lari
authors.forename: Simon A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kondrat
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bethell
authors.forename: Bert M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Weckhuysen
authors.forename: Graham J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hutchings