Highly efficient transfer hydrogenation of carbonyl compounds over supported nickel and palladium nanoparticles

Abstract

In this work, metal nanoparticles were successfully synthesized through the reduction of metal salts using reducing agents such as: ethylene glycol (EG) and sodium borohydride (NaBH₄). These metal nanoparticles were impregnated into the supports M-X (M = Ni, Pd; X = Bent, C, Zeolite, and AI₂O₃) in high yield. The physio-chemical properties of these catalysts were characterized by various techniques such as UV-Vis spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the specific surface area of M-X was evaluated by N₂ adsorption isotherm analysis at 77 K. All results corroborated the loading process. Literally, TEM images indicated that the palladium and nickel nanoparticles size are 6 and 13 nm. respectively. The efficiency of these catalysts was performed on the transfer hydrogenation of various carbonyl substrates in the presence of potassium hydroxide at atmosphere pressure. The results showed that both nickel and palladium supported X catalysts exhibited high activities over 99 % within 60 min in the presence of potassium hydroxide.