β-MnO2 nanorods: A new and efficient catalyst for isoamyl acetate synthesis

In this paper, β-MnO2 nanorods, a new and efficient catalyst was developed for the synthesis of isoamyl acetate. The β-MnO2 nanorod catalyst was prepared by calcining γ-MnOOH nanorod precursor. The catalyst was characterized with X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area and the Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) pore size distribution. The β-MnO2 nanorods are proven to be an excellent catalyst for isoamyl acetate synthesis, with a high yield of 93.15% under the following optimal conditions: acetic acid/isoamyl alcohol molar ratio (1.8:1), catalyst dosage (0.2% in total weight), reaction temperature (126 °C) and reaction time (3.5 h). The mechanism and kinetics of the catalytic reaction were studied as well.