Switching from Homogeneous to Heterogeneous Catalysis

Direct aldol reactions have been successfully performed using aromatic aldehyde and cyclic ketone in nonpolar/polar solvent using immobilized picolylamine on zirconia as a catalyst, in a double walled three necked batch reactor. The prepared catalyst was characterized by SEM, XRD and FT-IR. FT-IR peaks reveal the presence of picolylamine on the surface of zirconia. The catalyst show excellent catalytic activity in aldol reaction of cyclohexanone with benzaldehyde in cyclohexane giving (2-hydroxy phenyl methyl cyclohexanone) (55.7% yields) in 4 hours at 80C. Furthermore, the catalyst is recoverable by simple filtration and could be used several times without significant loss in activity. In addition the chiral amine will be anchor on the surface of zirconia for asymmetric aldol reaction in future studies.