Two kinds of nickel nanoparticles (NPs) well-dispersed in aqueous phase have been conveniently prepared by reducing nickel(II) salt with hydrazine in the presence of amino group (-NH2) functionalized ionic liquids:1-(3-aminopropyl)-2,3-dimethylimidazolium bromide ([AMMIM][Br]) and 1-(3-aminopropyl)-2,3-dimethylimidazolium acetate ([AMMIM][AcO]).The Ni(0) particles are composed of smaller ones which assemble in a blackberry-like shape.The Ni nanoparticles stabilized with [AMMIM][AcO] are much larger than those stabilized with [AMMIM][Br],and the former unexpectedly give much higher activity in the selective hydrogenation of citral and nitrobenzene (NB) in aqueous phase.The Ni(0) nanocatalysts dispersed in aqueous phase are stable enough to be reused at least five times without significant loss of catalytic activity and selectivity during the catalytic recycles.
HU YuYU YinYinZHAO XiuGeYANG HanMingFENG BoLI HuanQIAO YunXiangHUA LiPAN ZhenYanHOU ZhenShan
Olefins and allylic alcohols have been epoxidized with commercially available hydrogen peroxide (30% H2O2) using a phase transfer catalyst,composed of cetyltrimethylammonium cations and a lacunary-type phosphotungstate anion [PW11O39]7-or the complete Keggin-type heteropolyanion [PW12O40]3-,under two-phase conditions using ethyl acetate as the solvent. It was found that the lacunary-type catalyst showed higher activity and better recyclability than the complete Keggin-type catalyst under the same reaction conditions. 31P NMR spectroscopy and solubility measurements for the two catalysts revealed that the [PW11O39]7-anion had a much faster degradation rate than the [PW12O40]3-anion in an excess of H2O2,which resulted in the formation of more catalytically active species. As a result,the lacunary-type phosphotungstate anion-based catalyst gave a better catalytic performance than the complete Keggin-type anion in ethyl acetate.
