Study of acetylation of benzylic alcohols over BiFeO3, Bi0.86Sm0.07Eu0.07FeO3, and Bi0.86Sm0.07Cd0.07FeO3 nano powders

BiFeO3 (BFO), Bi0.86Sm0.07Eu0.07FeO3 (BSEFO), and Bi0.86Sm0.07Cd0.07FeO3 (BSCFO) nano powders were prepared by the sol-gel combustion method and the catalytic performances were evaluated in the acetylation reaction of benzyl alcohol. The physical chemical properties of the catalysts were characterized by using XRD, FT-IR, scanning electron microscope (SEM), EDX and BET surface. The efficient acetylation of benzyl alcohol was carried ‌out over all the nano powders using acetyl chloride/ acetonitrile at room temperature. Among the nano powders, BSCFO showed the highest catalytic performance and the yield of benzyl acetate was 89, 45, and 69 percent over BSCFO, BFO, and BSEFO, respectively. Partial substitution of Sm-Eu and Sm-Cd in bismuth ferrite improved the catalytic performance and increased the specific surface area of the catalysts. A direct relationship resulted between the catalytic performance and the specific surface of catalysts, where BSCFO with the highest surface area (11.7m2/g) exhibited the superior catalytic performance. The quantitative yield for the acetate product also resulted for the acetylation of p-methyl benzyl alcohol, p-nitro benzyl alcohol and p-chloro benzyl alcohol on BSCFO. The catalysts showed good reusability in the process. The study confirmed that the catalysts could be promising for the acetylation of alcohols.