High efficient Aldol condensation reaction utilizing modified calcium oxide as stable solid base catalyst

Abstract

Aldol condensation of acetophenone and benzaldehyde, as well as various benzaldehydes was carried out efficiently to produce chalcone with a good selectivity and high yields by using modified CaO as a solid base catalyst. Stability and catalytic activity of commercial CaO were significantly improved after modifying calcium oxide with bromobenzene in a simple way. An Aldol yield higher than 98.9% was obtained after the reaction was conducted for 3 h. This time interval is considerably shorter when compared to a period of 12 h needed for the commercial CaO to reach 92.1% yield under optimum activation. The high catalytic activity of modified CaO suggests that heterogeneous aldolisation was greatly improved by changing its hydrophilic properties. The influence of several reaction parameters, such as temperature and catalyst loading, was investigated. The humidity test over modified CaO reveals that the basic sites of modified CaO are resistant to CO₂ and moisture. The type of aldehyde has great influence on the yield of Aldol condensation. Based on the results of characterization by Fourier transform-infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) and thermogravimetric measurements (TG), it was concluded that the modifier was chemically bonded to the surface of CaO and nearly no Ca(OH)₂ was formed during the modification process.