Direct transformation of terminal alkenes with H2O into primary alcohols over metal oxide-supported Pd catalysts

The anti-Markovnikov addition of H2O to alkenes to directly bring in primary alcohols has been considered one of the “10 challenges in catalysis” in the 1990s, but the challenging issue has still remained unsolved over the past few decades, particularly in terms of developing an atom-efficient synthetic strategy. In this context, we introduce a novel access for the transformation of terminal alkenes with H2O into the corresponding primary alcohols over metal oxide-supported Pd catalysts, employing O2 as the sole oxidant. Direct and efficient synthesis of cinnamyl alcohol from allylbenzene and H2O was initially achieved as a fine chemical example over Pd(NO3)2/CeO2-ZrO2, and the target saturated alcohol (3-phenylpropan-1-ol) was obtained as the anti-Markovnikov selective product from a “one-pot” process using H2 as the reductant. The Pd(NO3)2/CeO2-ZrO2 was characterized by HAADF-STEM, XRD and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analyses, indicating that the molecular Pd(NO3)2 is probably deposited as it is on the support, which likely plays an important role to promote this reaction. In the second part, Pd(NO3)2/CeO2-ZrO2 and other supported Pd catalysts were applied for the transformation of 1,3-butadiene into 2-butene-1,4-diol in a batch reactor. Besides, butane-1,4-diol, which is an important industrial material, was efficiently produced by the simple hydrogenation of 2-butene-1,4-diol in a “one-pot” manner. Significantly, the development of the reaction catalyzed by supported Pd in a gas flow reactor bestows great potential to further industrial applications. Additionally, the adsorption structure of 1,3-butadiene on Pd(111) was confirmed as the s-trans form by infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) measurements. The change in the electronic states of surface Pd atoms upon oxygen adsorption was observed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).