ACID CATALYSTS BASED ON CU RU ALUMINA - CONVERSION OF BUTYRALDEHYDE TO DIBUTYL ETHER/

A system made by combining two nonalloying metals, ruthenuim and coppe r, using alumina as the oxide support was studied. This bimetallic sup ported catalyst has been used mainly in hydrogenolysis, dehydrogenatio n, and oxidation reactions of hydrocarbons. The preparation of such ma terials has been proposed to effect the selectivity and activity of a highly active metal by inclusion of a second less active metal. The sa mples were characterized by electron paramagnetic resonance spectromet ry (EPR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area, and surface acidities . The techniques EPR and XRD are ideal for studying the electronic and structural changes of the samples at different temperatures and conce ntrations, The primary reaction involved in this study was the hydroge nation of an aldehyde to the corresponding alcohol. A secondary reacti on occurred as well. The acid catalyzed, substitution or bimolecular d ehydration of the alcohol to the dibutyl ether was observed under cert ain catalytic conditions. These catalysts appeared to act as acid/base . Therefore this reaction to produce the ether is of special importanc e. A correlation between the electronic, structural and catalytic prop erties has been made to understand molecular processes' role in cataly tic phenomena. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.