Synthesis and Characterization of Manganese Oxide and Investigation of its Catalytic Activities for Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol in Liquid Phase

Manganese oxide was prepared by mechano-chemical process in solid state and was characterized by chemical and physical techniques. Chemical techniques include determination of oxygen content while physical techniques, includes surface area and pore size analyses, particle size, XRD, FTIR and SEM analyses. The synthesized manganese oxide was shown to have octahedral layered structure. The catalytic activity of manganese oxide was studied by carrying out the oxidation of benzyl alcohol in liquid phase using n-octane as solvent at temperature (<373) and oxygen pressure of up to one atmosphere. Benzaldehyde and benzoic acid were identified as the reaction products. However, benzoic acid appeared in reaction mixture after complete conversion of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde. Influence of different reaction parameters like comparison of reduced and unreduced catalyst, leaching of catalyst, effect of air, oxygen and nitrogen, effect of catalyst loading, life span of catalyst, effect of time and effect of partial pressure of oxygen on the reaction performance was studied. The catalyst can easily be separated from the reaction mixture by filtration, and can be regenerated by washing with water and ethanol and drying at 323 K.