Selective catalytic oxidation of geraniol to citral with molecular oxygen in supercritical carbon dioxide Original Research Article

Selective catalytic oxidation of geraniol to citral with molecular oxygen in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) has been investigated. The catalyst used was a chromium containing mesoporous molecular sieve catalyst viz. CrMCM-41. Comparison studies were performed with CoMCM-41, PtMCM-41 and PdMCM-41 catalysts. Among the various catalysts studied, CrMCM-41 showed a high conversion of geraniol and an excellent selectivity for citral. In contrast CoMCM-41, PtMCM-41 and PdMCM-41 catalysts exhibited low conversion of geraniol. However all three catalysts compared showed similar citral selectivity to CrMCM-41. The effect of CO2 pressure and reaction temperature geraniol oxidation was studied with CrMCM-41. Supercritical CO2 medium was found to enhance the conversion of geraniol and/or yield of citral. It was noticed that the catalyst can be recycled with negligible loss of conversion.