Heterogeneous ketonic decarboxylation of dodecanoic acid: studying reaction parameters

Perera-Solis, DD; Zholobenko, V; Whiting, A; Greenwell, HC

doi:10.1039/D1RA06871G

Heterogeneous ketonic decarboxylation of dodecanoic acid: studying reaction parameters

Perera-Solis, DD; Zholobenko, V; Whiting, A; Greenwell, HC

Authors

DD Perera-Solis

V Zholobenko

A Whiting

HC Greenwell

Abstract

Ketonic decarboxylation has gained significant attention in recent years as a pathway to reduce the oxygen content within biomass-derived oils, and to produce sustainable ketones. The reaction is base catalysed, with MgO an economic, accessible and highly basic heterogeneous catalyst. Here we use MgO to catalyse the ketonic decarboxylation of dodecanoic acid to form 12-tricosanone at moderate temperatures (250 degrees C, 280 degrees C and 300 degrees C) with low catalyst loads of 1% (w/w), 3% (w/w) and 5% (w/w) with respect to the dodecanoic acid, with a reaction time of 1 hour under batch conditions. Three different particle sizes for the MgO were tested (50 nm, 100 nm and 44 mu m). Ketone yield was found to increase with increasing reaction temperature, reaching approximately 75% yield for all the samples tested. Temperature was found to be the main control on reaction yield, rather than surface area or particle size.

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Sep 16, 2021
Publication Date	Nov 3, 2021
Journal	RSC Advances
Print ISSN	2046-2069
Publisher	Royal Society of Chemistry
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	11
Issue	56
Pages	35575 - 35584
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA06871G
Publisher URL	https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/RA/D1RA06871G