Alkoxylation of α, β-unsaturated aldehydes on gold supported on mesoporous anatase

Mesoporous anatase prepared by calcination of mesoporous amorphous titania from 673 to 923 K was used as supports for gold catalysts for the alkoxylation of alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehydes. The size of anatase crystallites increases with calcination temperature, resulting in enlargement of mesopores. We show a clear positive correlation between the average size of gold particles on the catalyst, prepared by deposition-precipitation method on these mesoporous anatases, with the size of the mesopores. Although the particle size distributions are wide when the average is large, this simple method can be used to roughly control of the particle size of metal catalysts, Alkoxylation of alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehydes was carried out by the conversion of acrolein, methacrolein and crotonaldehyde in methanol. The variations in selectivity and activity are explained mainly on the basis of the size of the crystallites on the support oxide. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.