Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol in Liquid Phase Catalyzed by Oxides of Nickel

Abstract

The oxidation of benzyl alcohol in liquid phase catalyzed by nano sized nickel hydroxide and nickel oxide using water and toluene as solvent was studied. Benzaldehyde and benzoic acid were identified as the reaction products in alkaline aqueous medium, but with the toluene as a solvent benzaldehyde was the only product. Influence of different reaction parameters (speed of agitation, reaction period, flow of molecular oxygen and temperature) on the reaction performance was studied. Temkin adsorption model was found to be the best fit to experimental data. The reaction was found to be heterogeneous in nature in which catalyst can easily be separated from the reaction mixture by centrifugation.