Catalytic activity of Pd loaded MCM-48

Abstract

The mesoporous material, MCM-48, in M41S family, has attracted considerable interest due to its framework of regular mesopores, large surface area, good thermal stability, and 3-dimensional pore structure. All of these properties are potentially advantageous for catalytic applications. In this work, palladium was used as a metal promoter loaded on a synthesized MCM-48 catalyst support, made silatrane, by the Suzuki reaction to produce biphenyls via the microwave technique. Pd-MCM-48 was synthesized via the impregnation approach. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Temperature- programmed reduction method, scanning electron microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy. The effect of Pd content (1%, 3% and 5%Pd-MCM-48) and reaction time were studied at 120 ºC and the product was characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results show that 5%Pd-MCM-48 with a 20 min reaction time gives the best conversion (~42.3%).