Chitin microsphere supported Pd nanoparticles as an efficient and recoverable catalyst for CO oxidation and Heck coupling reaction

Chitin derived from seafood wastes is a sustainable biopolymer, which can be used to constructe new materials to reduce the environmental pollution caused by non-biodegradable plastics. Herein, nanofibrous microspheres fabricated from chitin solution were used as carriers to construct three different chitin-supported Pd catalysts through diverse activation methods, subsequently revealed their differences in structure and performance. The palladium nanoparticles were firmly and highly dispersed on the microspheres due to the interconnected nanofibmus networks and functional groups of chitin, confirmed by various physicochemical characterizations. As the best candidate catalyst of Pd/chitin-Ar, in the CO oxidation reaction, which achieved 100% CO conversion with a lower Pd content, and exhibited excellent stability in 24-hours cycle reaction. Importantly, the catalyst was further applied in Heck coupling reaction, which also displayed competitive catalytic activity and stability (similar to 6runs, 94%). This utilizing of biomass resource to build catalyst materials would be important for the sustainable chemistry.

Automated summary

The study used chitin derived from seafood wastes to construct efficient Pd catalysts for CO oxidation and Heck coupling reactions, demonstrating good stability and catalytic activity in both reactions.