Nanometer sized tridecylamine capped rhodium dispersed on high surface area support: catalytic investigations

Abstract

We report a simple procedure for the synthesis of tridecylamine (TDA) capped Rhodium (RhTDA) nanoparticles in the range of 3-10 nm supported on different supports like SBA-15, SiO₂, ZrO₂, Al2O₃, and TiO₂. These are characterized by TEM, XRD, and N₂ adsorption studies. The catalytic activity of these nanometallic dispersions are tested for the liquid phase selective hydrogenation of geraniol to citronellol at 323 K under H₂ pressure. The primary reaction products are citronellol and 3,7-dimethyloctanol. Analysis of the data suggests that two separate reaction paths are operative i.e., consecutive A → B → C and parallel A → B and A → C. The size of the Rhodium particle does not have a marked effect on the product distribution, however it is very much depended on the nature of support used.