Optimization of biodiesel production from trap grease via acid catalysis

As a kind of waste collected from restaurants, trap grease is a chemically challenging feedstock for biodiesel production for its high free fatty acid (FFA) content. A central composite design was used to evaluate the effect of methanol quantity, acid concentration and reaction time on the synthesis of biodiesel from the trap grease with 50% free fatty acid, while the reaction temperature was selected at 95 degrees C. Using response surface methodology, a quadratic polynomial equation was obtained for ester content by multiple regression analysis. Verification experiments confirmed the validity of the predicted model. To achieve the highest ester content of crude biodiesel (89.67%), the critical values of the three variables were 35.00 (methanol-to-oil molar ratio), 11.27 wt% (catalyst concentration based on trap grease) and 4.59 h (reaction time). The crude biodiesel could be purified by a second distillation to meet the requirement of biodiesel specification of Korea.

Heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production

The production of biodiesel is greatly increasing due to its enviromental benefits. However, production costs are still rather high, compared to petroleum-based diesel fuel. The introduction of a solid heterogeneous catalyst in biodiesel production could reduce its price, becoming competitive with diesel also from a financial point of view. Therefore, great research efforts have been underway recently to find the right catalysts. This paper will be concerned with reviewing acid and basic heterogeneous catalyst performances for biodiesel production, examining both scientific and patent literature.

苯乙酮、氨甲酸酯参与的直接Mannich反应

Mannich反应是有机化学中最重要的碳-碳键形成反应，其产物是合成手性胺的通用中间体。间接Mannich反应使用不稳定的预制烯醇等当体，以未修饰的酮为给体的直接方法将增强Mannich反应的效率。针对低活性苯乙酮、氨甲酸酯参与的直接Mannich反应，研究工作将更具挑战性。 在前期实验中，我们发现Lewis酸-NbCl5可高效催化苯乙酮、芳香醛、芳香胺三组分直接Mannich反应，反应在环境温度下进行，高收率获得Mannich碱。这是以苯乙酮参与的Mannich反应中，实现催化量Lewis酸催化的首次报道。该方法高效且操作简单。但就底物而言，对易去保护、低活性的氨甲酸酯类底物收率较低。我们设想Brønst酸可解决此类底物问题。令人高兴的是，杂多酸可高效催化芳香酮、芳香醛、氨甲酸酯三组分直接Mannich反应，反应在环境温度下进行，高收率获得N-保护的β-氨基酮。该方法底物范围广泛，普适性强且催化剂便宜。 基于杂多酸在苯乙酮、氨甲酸酯为底物直接Mannich反应中的高效性，我们设想杂多酸与功能化的手性有机小分子-手性伯胺组装可解决催化剂回收问题，同时实现不对称催化。实验结果表明，非共价键固载手性伯胺不能有效催化苯乙酮为底物的直接Mannich反应，无论是对映选择性还是收率均较低。随后，我们以丙二酸酯及α-氨基砜为底物，以增强底物活性，同时绕开亚胺的不稳定性。辛可宁伯胺以氢键双活化底物，有效催化原位产生氨甲酸酯类亚胺与丙二酸酯的Mannich反应，高收率获得Mannich碱，ee值中等。 我们采用逐步解决问题的策略解决Mannich反应中的部分问题并在Lewis酸催化、Brønst酸催化、非共价键固载手性伯胺催化及手性伯胺氢键催化的直接Mannich反应中做出了有益探索。 The Mannich reactions are among the most fundamental carbon-carbon bond forming reactions in organic chemistry, and the reaction products are versatile intermediates in the synthesis of chiral amines. The indirect Mannich reaction uses preformed enolate equivalents. However the preformed enolates are unstable. Thus, a direct methodology based on unmodified ketone donors would enhance the efficiency of the Mannich reaction. Especially researches for the directed Mannich reactions of acetophenone, carbamate, which own lower activities, will be more challengeable. In the initial experiments, we found an efficient Lewis acid-NbCl5 which could catalyze three-component Mannich-type reaction of acetophenone, aromatic aldehydes and aromatic amines at ambient temperature in high yields. This is the first report that use catalytic amount of Lewis acid in the Mannich reactions of .acetophenone. The method reported is not only simple to operate but also efficient. However, as far as amines are concerned, the substrates of carbamates which can be deprotected more easily and less reactive than amines give low yields. We envisaged that Brønsted acid would resolve this problem. Pleasingly, heteropoly acids (HPA) efficiently catalyzed one-pot three-component Mannich reactions of aryl aldehydes, aryl ketones, and carbamates at ambient temperature and afforded the corresponding N-protected β-amino ketones in good to excellent yields. This method provides a novel and improved modification of three-component Mannich reactions in terms of a wide scope of aldehydes, ketones and carbamates, economic viability. Based on the high efficiency of heteropoly acids in the Mannich reaction of acetophenone and carbamates, we envisaged that if HPA were combined with functionalized chiral organocatalysts–chiral primary amines the assemblies may be able to act as recoverable asymmetric organocatalysts. The results of exprimentals showed that noncovalently supported heterogeneous chiral primary amine couldn’t effectively catalyze the Mannich reactions which own two the substrate of acetophenone regardless of enantioselectivity and yield. Then, we employed malonates and α-amido sulfones as substrates to enhance reactivity of substrates and circumvent the instability of imines. A moderately enantioselective and highly yield Mannich reaction with in situ generation of carbamate-protected imines from stable α-amido sulfones catalyzed by cinchonine primary amine catalyst was developed. It is noteworthy that cinchonine primary amine can dual activate substrates through H-bond activation and thus promote the reaction. We applied step-by-step-strategy to resolve some problems in the Mannich reactions and did some instructive explorations in Lewis acid catalysis, Brønst acid catalysis, noncovalently supported heterogeneous chiral primary amine catalysis and chiral primary amine as hydrogen-bond catalysis.

Noncovalent functionalization of multiwalled carbon nanotubes: Application in hybrid nanostructures

We developed a reproducible, noncovalent strategy to functionalize multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) via embedding nanotubes in polysiloxane shells. (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane molecules adsorbed to the nanotube surfaces via hydrophobic interactions are polymerized simply by acid catalysis and form a thin polysiloxane layer. On the basis of the embedded MWNTs, negatively charged gold nanoparticles are anchored to the nanotube surfaces via electrostatic interactions between the protonated amino groups and the gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, these gold nanoparticles can further grow and magnify along the nanotubes through heating in HAuCl4 aqueous solution at 100 degrees C; as a result these nanoparticles are joined to form continuous gold nanowires with MWNTS acting as templates.

Trichloroisocyanuric acid: A convenient oxidation reagent for phase-transfer catalytic epoxidation of enones under non-aqueous conditions

Trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA) is a cheap, safe and readily available alternative to the commonly used hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite for the phase-transfer catalytic epoxidation of alpha,beta-enones under non-aqueous conditions. A variety of chalcone derivatives give the corresponding epoxides with quantitative conversion and satisfactory yields in just a few hours under mild conditions. An asymmetric variant of the epoxidation can be carried out in the presence of chiral N-anthracenylmethylcinchonidine bromide catalyst giving 73-93% ees and 76-94% yields.

Effect of acid strength distribution on conversion of FCC gasoline over a ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst

Acid strength distribution and the distribution of aromatics formed in the FCC gasoline conversion reaction on a ZSM-5 zeolite with different Na contents have been studied. With increasing Na content in the ZSM-5 zeolite, the acid sites determined by NH3-TPD technique, especially the strong acid sites, clearly decrease. When used as catalyst for the aromatization reaction, the transformation of olefins in the FCC gasoline into aromatics is governed directly by the strong acid sites on the ZSM-5 catalyst. Only under the conditions that a ZSM-5 catalyst possesses suitable strong acid sites is reaction temperature favorable for the aromatics formed.

Effects of reaction conditions on the selective oxidation of propane to acrylic acid on Mo-V-Te-Nb oxides

An effective Mo-1 V(0.3)Te(0.23)Nb(0.12)Ox catalysts for the selective oxidation of propane to acrylic acid was successfully prepared by using rotavap method. The catalyst was characterized by XRD and shown to contain (V0.07Mo0.93)(5)O-14, (Nb0.09Mo0.91)O-2.8,3MoO(2)(.)Nb(2)O(5), Mo5TeO16 and/or TeMo4O13, Te4Nb2O13 and a new TeMO (TeVMoO or TeVNbMoO; M = Mo, V and Nb) crystalline phase as the major phase. Regardless of the intrinsic catalytic characteristics of the catalyst, the external reaction conditions would have strong effects on the catalytic performance for propane oxidation. So in this paper, the effects of reaction conditions were investigated and discussed, including temperature, space velocity, V(air)/V(C3H8) ratio and V(steam)/V(C3H8) ratio. A stability test was also carried out on Mo1V0.3Te0.23Nb0.12Ox catalyst. The experimental run was performed during 100 h under the optimized reaction conditions. During the 100 h of operation, propane conversion and acrylic acid selectivity remained at about 59 and 64%, respectively. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of acid strength of zeolites in liquid-phase alkylation of benzene with ethylene

The role of acid strength of zeolites in liquid-phase alkylation of benzene with ethylene was studied over beta, MCM-22, and USY zeolites by means of adsorbing NH3 at different temperatures. The strong acid sites are active centers, while the weak acid sites are inactive. The selectivity behavior of the strong acid sites varies with the relative acid strength as well as the types of the zeolites.

Characterization of the acid sites in dealuminated nanosized HZSM-5 zeolite with the probe molecule trimethylphosphine

The acid sites in dealuminated HZSM-5 zeolite with crystal sizes down to the nanoscale were firstly characterized by the probe molecule trimethylphosphine (TMP). As evidenced by the combination of P-31 CP/MAS NMR, Al-27 MAS and H-1 --> Al-27 CP/MAS NMR measurements, the Bronsted acid sites of both microsized and nanosized HZSM-5 could be decreased upon the dealumination of zeolitic framework after hydrothermal treatment. At the same time, the appearance of Lewis acid sites was observed. The dealuminated nanosized HZSM-5 is easier to form Lewis acid sites than microsized HZSM-5, and the type of Lewis acid sites in nanosized HSM-5 is more than one. In addition, the origin of Lewis acid sites is mainly associated with the aluminum at ca. 30 ppm, in the Al-27 MAS NMR spectra, and only a part of which in the dealuminated HZSM-5 zeolite acts as Lewis acid sites. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Kinetics of acetic acid esterification with 2-ethoxyethanol over an Al-pillared clay catalyst

The Al-pillared clay catalyst obtained by exposing activated clay powder to sulfuric acid and aluminium salts and calcining in air at 373-673 K, was found to be highly active for the title reaction. The results indicated that pillared layer clay of the mixed oxide has been employed as parent catalysts for their definite structure and special properties which can be modified by the substitution of L and B acid sites cations. Solid acid catalyst of Supported aluminium was found to be highly active and selective at the 373-473 K temperature range for heterogeneous esterification. The activity is mainly attributed to the Lewis (and a considerably small number of Bronsted) acid sites whose number and strength increased due to pillaring. The water produced in the esterification can be induced by Al3+, which makes the catalyst surface to form strong B acid. Their acidities are obtained by pH measurement. If only B acid sites are > 70%, and pH < 1 in the 2-ethoxyethanol, there exists an activity of esterification. The used catalyst gave identical results with that of the fresh one. X-ray diffraction spectra show that the composition and active phase of the used catalysts are the same as the fresh ones. The kinetic study of the reaction was carried out by an integral method of analysis. The kinetic equation of surface esterification is y = 2.36x - 0.98.

Electrochemical characteristics of mediated laccase-catalysis and electrochemical detection of environmental pollutants

Laccase has been immobilized on the carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrode surface by adsorption. As-prepared laccase retains good electrocatalytic activity to oxygen reduction by using 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) as the mediator. It can be used as a biosensor for the determination of catechol with broad linear range.