Sulfated copper oxide: An efficient catalyst for dehydration of sorbitol to isosorbide

Sulfated metal oxides catalysts prepared by calcining hydrated metal sulfates were studied for sorbitol dehydration to isosorbide. The selectivity to isosorbide was obviously affected by the calcination temperature. Sulfated copper oxide calcined at 650 degrees C exhibited the best catalytic performance, 99.7% sorbitol conversion and 67.5% isosorbide selectivity were gained at the reaction temperature of 200 degrees C. Characterizations with N-2 adsorption, XRD, NH3-TPD, UV-vis and FT-IR revealed that calcination temperature influenced the catalytic behaviors dramatically by changing the crystalline structure and surface properties. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.