• Energy Research

A range of α-aminonitriles could be efficiently prepared from various aldehydes/ketones and primary or secondary amines using a highly active and stable Co(II) complex supported on different mesoporous supports at both room temperature and low temperature microwave irradiation under solventless conditions. Catalysts were also highly reusable under the investigated reaction conditions and could be reused at least 10 times without loss of catalytic activity.

Thermokinetics of Biochar production.

Supported iron oxide nanoparticles on aluminosilicate catalysts were found to be efficient and easily recoverable materials in the aqueous selective oxidation of alcohols to their corresponding carbonyl compounds using hydrogen peroxide under both conventional and microwave heating. The protocol features an easy work-up, simplicity and the utilisation of mild reaction conditions as well as high selectivity toward aldehydes is highly advantageous compared to alternatively reported methodologies. The supported iron oxide nanoparticles could be easily recovered from the reaction mixture and reused several times without any loss in activity. ICP-MS results proved that there is no metal leaching observed, demonstrating the stability of the catalyst under the investigated conditions.

Microwave (MW) and conventional heating (CH) strategies were compared for the synthesis of fuel additives (alkyl levulinates) obtained from levulinic acid.