Hydrogenation of unsaturated carboxylic acids on functional gel-type resin supported Pd catalysts: The effect of reactant structure

Functional gel-type resin-based palladium catalysts (0.5–2 wt.% Pd) of well dispersed Pd nanoparticles were prepared and characterized by SEM, TEM techniques and swelling measurements. The role of specific properties of gel-type matrix was studied in the hydrogenation of unsaturated CC bonds in series of carboxylic acids, derivatives of acrylic acid. They differ in the type of substituents (methyl, phenyl and carboxyl groups) at the double bonded carbon atoms. The rate of hydrogenation is found to depend on the crosslinking degree of the resin and on the presence of steric hindrance around the CC bond in individual reactants. The influence of the substrate molecules size, their hydrophobicity and absolute hardness/polarizability on the rate of the CC hydrogenation has been established by theoretical modelling.

Graphical abstractFunctional gel-type resin-based Pd catalysts (0.5–2 wt.% Pd) of well dispersed Pd nanoparticles were prepared and characterized by SEM, TEM techniques and swelling measurement. The role of specific properties of functional gel-type matrix in the Pd catalysts was studied in the hydrogenation of unsaturated carboxylic acids, derivatives of acrylic acid. The role of the size of the substrate molecule, its hydrophobicity and absolute hardness/polarizability in the rate of CC hydrogenation has been established by theoretical modelling. Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide