Author(s)

Adel Saadi, Kahina Lanasri, Khaldoun Bachari, Djamila Halliche, Chérifa Rabia

.
Laboratoire de Chimie du Gaz Naturel, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene, Algiers, Algeria.

The hydrogenation of benzaldehyde over a series of nickel-containing mesoporous silicas with different nickel contents was studied at atmospheric pressure in the range temperature of 393 - 513 K under H2 ?ow. These materials (noted Nin-HMS with n = Si/Ni = 50, 25, 15) have been prepared at room temperature using a route based on hydrogen bonding and self-assembly between neutral primary amine micelles (S⁰) and neutral inorganic precursors (I0). They were characterized by their chemical analysis, BET surface area, XRD, FT-IR, and SEM microscopy. The obtained products were benzylalcohol, toluene, benzene with yields depending on the nickel content (Si/Ni ratio) and reaction temperature. The products of benzaldehyde hydrogenation (benzylalcohol, and toluene) and hydrogenolysis (benzene) were preferentially formed at low/middle and high reaction temperature respectively. The mesoporous Ni-containing materials were very active hydrogenation catalysts with almost 90% selectivity to benzylalcohol product and showed excellent stability. A mechanism in which the reaction could be initiated by a benzaldehyde reduction over Nin-HMS materials under hydrogen flow with formation of reaction products is proposed.

Nickel; HMS; Benzaldehyde; Reduction; Mesoporous Materials

A. Saadi, K. Lanasri, K. Bachari, D. Halliche and C. Rabia, "Catalytic Reduction of Benzaldehyde Under Hydrogen Flow over Nickel-Containing Mesoporous Silica Catalysts," Open Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 2 No. 1, 2012, pp. 73-80. doi: 10.4236/ojpc.2012.21010.