Nickel Nanoparticles for Liquid Phase Toluene Oxidation – Phenomenon, Opportunities and Challenges

Effective oxidative transformation of toluene into valuable products was achieved under solvent-free reaction conditions with as-prepared nickel nanoparticles as heterogeneous catalysts in liquid phase. The crystalline structure and size the were confirmed by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) dynamic light scattering (DLS). catalytic implications different forms (face-centred cubic: fcc; hexagonal close-packed: hcp) these nanocatalysts investigated. product selectivity oxidation found to vary depending on catalyst. Fcc showed remarkable chemoselectivity (83 mol %) for benzyl alcohol readily reusable. In contrast, hcp Ni phase reasonable reusability but lower (29 compared its fcc counterpart. Moreover, simple organic solvents used had a effect crystal purity nanocrystals, which also affected process.