A porous ruthenium silica catalyst modified with amino benzoic acid for the oxidation of butanol with molecular oxygen

Silica was extracted from rice husk (RH) and modified with ruthenium and amino benzoic acid. The catalysts RH–Ru and RH–Ru–A (incorporated with 5% of 4-(methylamino)benzoic acid) were synthesized from rice husk via solvent extraction and sol–gel technique. XRD diffractogram showed both catalysts were amorphous. BET results showed that the surface area of RH–Ru–A (73.9 m2 g−1) was smaller compared with RH–Ru (138 m2 g−1). After calcinations at 700 °C, RH–Ru-700 and RH–Ru–A-700 showed a lower specific surface area, i.e. 21.8 and 19.0 m2 g−1, respectively. The SEM micrograph of RH–Ru-700 showed the presence of elongated nano fibers, while RH–Ru–A-700 showed the presence of large regular pore structures. RH–Ru and RH–Ru–A were used as catalyst for the oxidation of 1-butanol with molecular oxygen as the oxidant. The oxidation yielded only one product, i.e. 1-butanal. Although the yield of 1-butanal was less than 10% both catalyst showed great potential for the oxidation of primary alcohols into aldehydes at moderate reaction conditions. A plausible mechanism was suggested for the catalyzed oxidation.