Synthesis of mesoporous Pt/Al2O3 catalysts with high catalytic performance for hydrogenation of acetophenone

Mesoporous Al2O3 was prepared using chitosan (CS) as a template and was used as the support of Pt catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of acetophenone (AP) to produce phenyl ethanol (PhE). The results show that the shape, surface morphology, surface area, and pore volume of mesoporous Al2O3 are affected obviously by the amount of CS template. The mesoporous Pt/Al2O3 catalysts exhibit high catalytic performances, which are affected by the surface morphologies and pore structures of the supports, and the calcination temperatures of the catalysts. The Pt/Al2O3 catalyst has higher catalytic performance than Pt–Al2O3 synthesized by a “one-step” method and Pt/γ-Al2O3 prepared with commercial γ-Al2O3.