In situ hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone on Pd/C with phosphotungstic acid at open atmospheric condition

The production of cyclohexanone, of industrial importance, is at a distance to environment friendly and efficiency. As a solution, a mild sustainable catalytic hydrogenation is presented herein, of phenol into cyclohexanone on Pd/C with potassium formate the hydrogen donor under open atmosphere. Some important reaction conditions, such as temperature, reaction time, catalyst, amount of potassium formate, etc. were investigated and analyzed. The positive growth was found to accelerate the conversion rate of phenol while reducing cyclohexanone selectivity by weakening the protection of phosphotungstic acid. Phosphotungstic acid was confirmed to be the co-catalyst exhibiting the highest activity under given conditions. Based on experiments, we have made reasonable assumptions about the reaction mechanism, while the reaction kinetics proves high reaction rates within a wide temperature range, indicating the reaction to be quick process. Furthermore, the good reusability and recyclability of Pd/C catalyst is verified to benefit future industrial applications.