New bio-nanocomposites based on iron oxides and polysaccharides applied to oxidation and alkylation reactions

• Daily Rodríguez-Padrón,
• Alina M. Balu,
• Antonio A. Romero and
• Rafael Luque

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1982–1993, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.194

• in both the oxidation and alkylation reaction reveals a potential method for the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass. Keywords: alkylation; benzyl alcohol; benzyl chloride; iron oxide; mechanochemistry; microwave-assisted oxidation; polysaccharide; toluene; Introduction Heterogeneous catalysis

• -assisted oxidation of benzyl alcohol reached 45% conversion after 10 min. The conversion of the alkylation of toluene in both microwave-assisted and conventional heating methods was higher than 99% after 3 min and 30 min, respectively. The transformation of benzyl alcohol and toluene into valuable product

• potential from an environmental point-of-view since it is able to reduce solvent issues in chemical syntheses. The catalytic activity of the obtained nanocatalysts was investigated in both the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde and in the alkylation of toluene with benzyl chloride. The microwave