Novel catalysts for the conversion of phenol to anilines

In this thesis the direct conversion of phenol to anilines is catalyzed with Pd supported on Carbon, which adsorbs H2 gas, the phenols and the amines. This make the contact between the reactives easier. The mecanism runs through cyclohexanone and finish into a secondary or tertiary N,substituted-aniline and the correspondant cyclohexyl-R-amine, the hydrogenated analogous. Other metals, as Pb, and other supporters, as CeO, for example, were used in the investigation. It has been studied the kinetics and the thermodinamyc properties of the reaction. It was regarded that the reaction finished with the cyclohexylamine and the N,substituted-aniline in the reaction with H2 gas pressure. As we wanted to obtain the maximum amount of the dehydrogenated molecule, a second step in the reaction was added: Dehydrogenation step. It worked in the same conditions as the main reaction, but with any H2 pressure. It was observed that for both steps the best catalysts were Pd/CaCo3 and Pd/BaSO4. The analysis of the samples were performed into a GC and GC-MS machines