Abstract
Benzylidene malononitrile find applications in pharmaceutical industries, pharmacology, biotech, specialty chemicals, perfumery, and for fluorescence-based assay to determine methane and is produced by polluting routes. Hydrotalcites (HT) have been very effective as solid bases in different reactions and their properties can be changed by using different synthetic methods. In this work, the effect of additional metal in the synthesis of Al-Mg hydrotalcite was systematically studied to prepare Ti-Al-Mg (Ti modified hydrotalcite) and Zn-Al-Mg HT (Zn modified hydrotalcite) using combustion method with glycine as well as glycerol as a fuel. All synthesized catalysts were evaluated in Knoevenagel condensation of benzaldehyde with malononitrile to give benzylidene malononitrile. The catalysts were completely characterized by SEM, EDXS, \(\text {N}_{2}\) Adsorption, \(\text {CO}_{2}\)-TPD and \(\text {NH}_{3}\)-TPD and XRD techniques. Ti-Al-Mg hydrotalcite using glycine as a fuel was found to be the most active, selective and reusable catalyst. Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) model was used to establish the reaction mechanism and kinetics. All species were weakly adsorbed leading to the second order power law model. Using mole ratio of 1:3 of benzaldehyde to malononitrile with ethyl acetate as a solvent and \(2.5 \times 10^{-4}\) g/\(\text {cm}^{3}\) catalyst loading, 67.1% conversion of benzaldehyde and 97.6% selectivity to benzylidene malononitrile were achieved in 4 h at 60 \({^{\circ }}\)C. The apparent activation energy was 10.01 kcal/mol. The process is green.
Graphic abstract
Ti-Al-Mg and Zn-Al-Mg hydrotalcites were prepared using combustion method with glycine and glycerol as fuel and used in the Knoevenagel condensation of benzaldehyde with malononitrile to give benzylidene malononitrile. Ti-Al-Mg hydrotalcite (glycine) was the most active, selective and reusable catalyst.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- A:
-
reactant species A, benzaldehyde
- B:
-
reactant species B, malononitrile
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{A}}\) :
-
concentration of A, benzaldehyde (mol/cm\(^3\))
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{A0}}\) :
-
initial concentration of A in bulk liquid phase \((\hbox {mol/cm}^{3})\)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{AS1}}\) :
-
adsorption concentration of A on active site \(\text {S}_{1}\)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{B}}\) :
-
concentration of B \((\hbox {mol/cm}^{3})\)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{B0}}\) :
-
initial concentration of B in bulk liquid phase \((\hbox {mol/cm}^{3})\)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{BS1}}\) :
-
concentration of B on active sites of type \(\mathrm{S}_1 \) (mol/g)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{E}}\) :
-
concentration of E, product species \((\hbox {mol/cm}^{3})\)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{ES1}}\) :
-
concentration of E on active sites of type \(\text {S}_{1}\) (mol/g)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{S1}}\) :
-
concentration of vacant sites of type \(\text {S}_{1}\) (mol/g)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{S2}}\) :
-
concentration of vacant sites of type \(\text {S}_{2}\) (mol/g)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{T1}}\) :
-
total concentration of vacant sites of type \(\text {S}_{1}\) (mol/g)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{T2}}\) :
-
total concentration of vacant sites of type \(\text {S}_{2}\) (mol/g)
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{W}}\) :
-
concentration of W, product species (\(\text {mol}/\text {cm}^3\))
- \(\text {C}_{\mathrm{WS2}}\) :
-
concentration of W on active sites of type \(\text {S}_{2}\) (mol/g)
- E:
-
product species E, benzylidene malononitrile
- \(\text {K}_{\mathrm{A}}\) :
-
adsorption equilibrium constant for A (\(\hbox {cm}^{3}\)/mol)
- \(\text {K}_{\mathrm{B}}\) :
-
adsorption equilibrium constant for B (\(\hbox {cm}^{3}\)/mol)
- \(\text {K}_{\mathrm{E}}\) :
-
adsorption equilibrium constant for E (\(\hbox {cm}^{3}\)/mol)
- \(\text {K}_{\mathrm{W}}\) :
-
adsorption equilibrium constant for W (\(\hbox {cm}^{3}\)/mol)
- M:
-
mole ratio of \(\text {C}_{B0}\)/\(\text {C}_{A0}\)
- \(-\text {r}_{\mathrm{A}}\) :
-
rate of reaction (mol \(\hbox {cm}^{-3}\hbox { min}^{-1})\)
- W:
-
product species W, water
- w:
-
catalyst loading \((\hbox {g/cm}^{3})\)
- \(\text {X}_{A}\) :
-
fractional conversion of A
- t:
-
time (min)
References
Lopez T, Bosch P, Ramos E, Gomez R, Novaro O, Acosta D and Figueras F 1996 Synthesis and characterization of sol-gel hydrotalcites. Structure and texture Langmuir 12 189
Cavani F and Trifiro A 1991 Hydrotalcite-type anionic clays: Preparation, properties and applications Catal. Today 11 173
Hattori H 1995 Heterogeneous basic catalysis Chem. Rev. 95 537
Cosimo J, Di I, Díez V K, Xu M, Iglesia E and Apesteguía C R 1998 Structure and surface and catalytic properties of Mg-Al basic oxides J. Catal. 178 499
Ono Y 2003 Solid base catalysts for the synthesis of fine chemicals J. Catal. 216 406
Gupta M, Gupta R and Anand M 2009 Hydroxyapatite supported caesium carbonate as a new recyclable solid base catalyst for the Knoevenagel condensation in water Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 5 1
Delsarte S, Maugé F, Lavalley J C and Grange P 2000 Basic sites on mixed nitrided galloaluminophosphates “AlGaPON”: Infrared studies of \(\text{ SO }_{2}\) and \(\text{ CDCl }_{3 }\) adsorption Catal. Lett. 68 79
Sakthivel B and Dhakshinamoorthy A 2017 Chitosan as a reusable solid base catalyst for Knoevenagel condensation reaction J. Colloid Interface Sci. 485 75
Climent M J, Corma A, Iborra S and Primo J 1995 Base catalysis for fine chemicals production: Claisen-Schmidt condensation on zeolites and hydrotalcites for the production of chalcones and flavanones of pharmaceutical interest J. Catal. 151 60
Yadav G D and Yadav A R 2014 Novelty of Claisen-Schmidt condensation of biomass-derived furfural with acetophenone over solid super base catalyst RSC Adv. 4 63772
Meyer U and Gorzawski H 1999 Michael addition of ethyl acrylate and acetone over solid bases Catal. Letters 59 201
Yadav G D and Kadam A A 2013 Selective engineering using Mg–Al calcined hydrotalcite and microwave irradiation in mono-transesterification of diethyl malonate with cyclohexanol Chem. Eng. J. 230 547
Climent M J, Corma A, Fornés V, Guil-Lopez R and Iborra S 2002 Aldol condensations on solid catalysts: A cooperative effect between weak acid and base sites Adv. Synth. Catal. 344 1090
Yadav G D and Aduri P 2012 Aldol condensation of benzaldehyde with heptanal to jasminaldehyde over novel Mg-Al mixed oxide on hexagonal mesoporous silica J. Mol. Catal. A Chem. 355 142
Delidovich I and Palkovits R 2015 Structure–performance correlations of Mg–Al hydrotalcite catalysts for the isomerization of glucose into fructose J. Catal. 327 1
King F and Kelly G J 2002 Combined solid base/hydrogenation catalysts for industrial condensation reactions Catal. Today 73 75
Patankar S K, Dodiya S and Yadav G D 2015 Cascade engineered synthesis of ethyl benzyl acetoacetate and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) on novel multifunctional catalyst J. Mol. Catal. A: Chem. 409 171
Shukla K and Srivastava V 2017 Synthesis of organic carbonates from alcoholysis of urea: A review Catal. Rev. 59 1
Yadav G D and Chandan P A 2014 A green process for glycerol valorization to glycerol carbonate over heterogeneous hydrotalcite catalyst Catal. Today 237 47
Kondawar S and Rode C V 2017 Solvent-free glycerol transesterification with propylene carbonate to glycerol carbonate over a solid base catalyst Energy Fuels 31 4361
Yadav G D and Fernandes G P 2013 Selective synthesis of natural benzaldehyde by hydrolysis of cinnamaldehyde using novel hydrotalcite catalyst Catal. Today 207 162
Fernandes G P and Yadav G D 2018 Selective glycerolysis of urea to glycerol carbonate using combustion synthesized magnesium oxide as catalyst Catal. Today 309 153
Jyothi T M, Raja T, Talawar M B and Rao B S 2001 Selective \(O\)-methylation of catechol using dimethyl carbonate over calcined Mg-Al hydrotalcites Appl. Catal. A Gen. 211 41
Yadav G D and Salunke J Y 2013 Selectivty engineering of solid base catalyzed \(O\)-methylation of 2 napthol with dimethyl carbonate to 2-methoxy napthalene Catal. Today 207 180
Yadav G D and Surve P S 2013 Solventless green synthesis of 4-O-aryloxy carbonates from aryl/alkyl-oxy propanediols and dimethyl carbonate over nano-crystalline alkali promoted alkaline earth metal oxides Catal. Sci. Technol. 3 2668
Bhanawase S L and Yadav G D 2017 Hydrotalcite as active and selective catalyst for synthesis of dehydrozingerone from vanillin and acetone: Effect of catalyst composition and calcination temperature on activity and selectivity Curr. Catal. 6 105
Bhanawase S L and Yadav G D 2017 Activity and selectivity of different base catalysts in synthesis of guaifenesin from guaiacol and glycidol of biomass origin Catal. Today 291 213
Bhanawase S L and Yadav G D 2016 Green synthesis of vanillyl mandelic acid (sodium salt) from guaiacol and sodium glyoxylate over novel silica encapsulated magnesium hydroxide ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 4 1974
Bhanawase S L and Yadav G D 2017 Novel alkali-promoted hydrotalcite for selective synthesis of 2-methoxy phenyl benzoate from guaiacol and benzoic anhydride Clean Technol. Environ. Policy 19 1169
Molleti J and Yadav G D 2017 Green synthesis of veratraldehyde using potassium promoted lanthanum-magnesium mixed oxide catalyst Org. Process Res. Dev. 21 1012
Deshmukh G P and Yadav G D 2017 Facile synthesis of dicamba ester over heterogeneous magnesium oxide and kinetic modelling Chem. Eng. J. 309 663
Rao C N R 1994 Chemical Approaches to the Synthesis of Inorganic Materials (New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Limited)
Patil K 1997 Combustion synthesis Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci. 2 158
Misono M 2013 Heterogeneous Catalysis of Mixed Oxides (Oxford: Elsevier B.V.)
Patil K C, Aruna S T and Mimani T 2002 Combustion synthesis: An update Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci. 6 507
Velu S, Ramaswamy V and Sivasanker S 1997 New hydrotalcite-like anionic clays containing \(\text{ Zr }^{4+}\) in the layers Chem. Commun. 21 2107
Das N and Samal A 2004 Synthesis, characterisation and rehydration behaviour of titanium(IV) containing hydrotalcite like compounds Micropor. Mesopor. Mater. 72 219
Xia S J, Liu F X, Ni Z M, Shi W, Xue J L and Qian P P 2014 Ti-based layered double hydroxides: Efficient photocatalysts for azo dyes degradation under visible light Appl. Catal. B Environ. 144 570
Hosni K, Abdelkarim O, Frini-Srasra N and Srasra E 2014 Synthesis, structure and photocatalytic activity of calcined Mg-Al-Ti-layered double hydroxides Korean J. Chem. Eng. 32 104
Gawade A B, Tiwari, M S and Yadav G D 2016 Biobased green process: Selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-dimethyl furan under mild conditions using Pd-\(\text{ Cs }_{2.5}\text{ H }_{0.5}\text{ PW }_{12}\text{ O }_40\)/K-10 Clay ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 4 4113
Mondal J, Modak A and Bhaumik A 2011 Highly efficient mesoporous base catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation of different aromatic aldehydes with malononitrile and subsequent noncatalytic Diels–Alder reactions J. Mol. Catal. A-Chem. 335 236
Acknowledgements
ALJ thanks the management of D.Y. Patil College of Engineering and Technology, Kolhapur for permitting him to do this doctoral work. Thanks are also due to Dr. Godfree Fernandes for his help. GDY acknowledges support from R.T. Mody Distinguished Professor Endowment, Tata Chemicals Darbari Seth Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Innovation, and J. C. Bose National Fellowship of Department of Science and Technology, GoI.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jadhav, A.L., Yadav, G.D. Clean synthesis of benzylidenemalononitrile by Knoevenagel condensation of benzaldehyde and malononitrile: effect of combustion fuel on activity and selectivity of Ti-hydrotalcite and Zn-hydrotalcite catalysts. J Chem Sci 131, 79 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12039-019-1641-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12039-019-1641-6