Stefania Albonetti

Chemicals and Fuels from Bio-Based Building Blocks: Cavani/Chemicals and Fuels from Bio-Based Building Blocks

An up-to-date and two volume overview of recent developments in the field of chemocatalytic and enzymatic processes for the transformation of renewable material into essential chemicals and fuels. Experts from both academia and industry discuss catalytic processes currently under development as well as those already in commercial use for the production of bio-fuels and bio-based commodity chemicals. As such, they cover drop-in commodity chemicals and fuels, as well as bio-based monomers and polymers, such as acrylic acid, glycols, polyesters and polyolefins. In addition, they also describe reactions applied to waste and biomass valorization and integrated biorefining strategies. With its comprehensive coverage of the topic, this is an indispensable reference for chemists working in the field of catalysis, industrial chemistry, sustainable chemistry, and polymer synthesis.

CHAPTER 1:Homogeneous, Heterogeneous and Nanocatalysis

The past decade has seen ever-increasing interest in the catalytic aerobic oxidation of alcohols, which is one of the pivotal functional group transformations in organic chemistry. Nevertheless, most of the current methods for alcohol oxidation are not catalytic, hence the use of catalysts and green oxidants such as O2 or air, instead of stoichiometric quantities of inorganic oxidants, will provide a highly desirable approach to this reaction. This chapter summarizes the latest breakthroughs in the use of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in aerobic alcohol oxidation in the liquid phase; the use of microwaves and photochemistry to assist and promote catalytic activities is also highlighted. Moreover, since nanoparticle systems may be considered an interesting compromise between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalytic systems, the recent development of soluble transition metal colloids as active nanocatalysts for aerobic alcohol oxidation is also presented.