Mika Erik Tapio Sillanpää

The synthesis of esters is one of the most fundamental and significant subjects in organic chemistry and chemical industry because they are used in high-value products such as cosmetics, biofuel, pharmaceuticals, surfactants, and food ingredients. In this study, an efficient, economic, sustainable, and green protocol for oxidative esterification reaction has been developed. A one-pot direct transformation of aliphatic, aromatic, and unsaturated aldehydes into esters in the presence of oxygen has been carried out over mesoporous organosilica-supported palladium nanocatalyst (Pd-Cyt@SBA-15) under ambient conditions. Pd-Cyt@SBA-15 efficiently catalyzed selectively large-scale conversion of aldehydes into esters in high yields and large turnover numbers (TON = 98,000). Pd-Cyt@SBA-15 nanocatalyst demonstrated excellent reusability and stability and could be recycled up to ten times without loss of significant reactivity. ICP-AES analysis showed that no leaching of active palladium species occurred during the recycling process of the heterogeneous Pd-Cyt@SBA-15 nanocatalyst.