Effective performance of CeO2 based silica for preparation of octanal

Alcohols are naturally occurring substances that are mainly used to prepare aldehydes through oxidation/dehydrogenation processes (such as coupling transfer dehydrogenation reactions), where unsaturated organic compounds are used as an oxidants. In the industrial field, various homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts are used for the oxidation of alcohols and the formation of aldehydes in a short period of time, greater chemical conversion, high yields and higher selectivity. In this work, silica and ceria nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol–gel and co-precipitation methods, where silica is used as a support material for catalytically active nano-sized ceria. Catalyst calcined at 600 °C and characterized by FT-IR, TEM, SEM and XRD was used for liquid-phase oxidation of primary alcohols. Maximum percentage conversion with high selectivity of octanol to octanal was obtained at 60 °C in 1 h with respect to 0.5 g catalytic dose. In the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst, the percentage conversion and selectivity of octanol to octanal was found to increase over time.