2010 SSAT PLENARY PRESENTATION Selective Oxidation of Glucose Over Carbon-supported Pd and Pt Catalysts Irina V. Delidovich • Oxana P. Taran • Lyudmila G. Matvienko • Alexander N. Simonov • Irina L. Simakova • Alesya N. Bobrovskaya • Valentin N. Parmon Received: 11 June 2010 / Accepted: 6 August 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract Selective oxidation of glucose into gluconic acid by molecular oxygen over carbon-supported Pt and Pd catalysts was studied. Under examination were kinetic regularities of the process in respect of the electronic state of the noble metal surface, dispersion of the active com- ponent particles as well as substrate:Pt(Pd) ratio. Catalytic activity of the Pt/C catalysts being normalized to the dis- persion of the platinum particles appeared independent of the particles mean diameter in the 1–5 nm range. A neg- ative particle size effect for the Pd/C catalysts, caused by feasibility of oxidation of the surface of noble metal par- ticles with the size less than 3 nm, was observed. Pt/C catalysts exhibited lower specific activity and provided poor selectivity of the glucose oxidation in comparison with Pd/C. Deactivation of Pd/C catalysts arising from the formation of surface Pd(II) oxides was retarded when the reaction was carried out under an oxygen-diffusion control. Keywords Glucose  Gluconic acid  Selective oxidation  Pt  Pd  Particle size effect 1 Introduction Being renewable and widespread feedstock, natural carbo- hydrates are attractive substrates for industrial production of commodity chemicals. In particular, selective oxidation of sugars yields commercially relevant polyoxiacids. For example, gluconic acid is the product of selective oxidation of glucose in the C 1 position and widely used in pharma- ceutical, food, chemical and textile industries. At present, gluconic acid is industrially produced via enzymatic technique with the annual output of 6 9 10 4 tons [1]. Alternative chemical [2], electrochemical [3] and catalytic [4] methods of selective oxidation of carbohydrates are well known as well. Among the listed methods, the oxidation of sugars with molecular oxygen in aqueous media in the presence of heterogeneous supported catalysts is considered as the most economically promising and environmentally friendly technique [5]. Platinum group metals, in particular Pt and Pd, are known to exhibit highest catalytic activities towards selective oxidation of carbohydrates [6]. Promising results on high activity of monometallic Au catalysts for the car- bohydrate oxidation have been reported recently, too [7]. However, the present study is focused on the monometallic platinum and palladium carbon-supported catalysts, since some of the fundamental issues on their catalytic properties for selective oxidation of glucose still need clarification. Besides, gold-based catalysts seem less economically sound due to a higher price for Au in comparison with Pt and Pd, as well as due to the complexity of the preparation procedures of Au/C catalysts with disperse gold nanopar- ticles [8]. The carbonaceous materials are attractive as supports for catalysts for liquid-phase oxidation due to their high specific surface area and developed pore-struc- ture, high durability and stability in aqueous solutions in a wide range of pH. The review of the most important publications devoted to catalytic properties of platinum and palladium for the selective oxidation of glucose is provided by extensive I. V. Delidovich (&)  O. P. Taran  L. G. Matvienko  A. N. Simonov  I. L. Simakova  A. N. Bobrovskaya  V. N. Parmon Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Akad. Lavrentiev Prosp., 5, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia e-mail: DIV@catalysis.ru O. P. Taran  L. G. Matvienko  A. N. Simonov  V. N. Parmon Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova St., 2, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia 123 Catal Lett DOI 10.1007/s10562-010-0430-0