On-Line Analysis of the Heterogeneous Pd-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrogenation of P-Nitrophenol in Water with Formic Acid in a Flow Reactor

An versatile experimental setup composed of a fixed-bed reactor and an HPLC apparatus has been developed for the study of heterogeneous catalytic reactions under transient conditions. The transfer hydrogen reaction of formic acid in water to give p-nitrophenol catalyzed by Pd@Al2O3 support was chosen as the model reaction in a flow reactor. On one hand, this setup allowed the first experimental on-line measurements of p-aminophenol in an acidic medium, indicating that it is the only product of the reaction at steady state. On the other hand, the setup evidenced a quite long transient period before stationary conditions were reached, involving a transient component that is quite instable and can transform to p-aminophenol without a catalyst. Results of numerical simulations indicate that only a change in the reaction mechanism, due to a change in the catalyst activity after few minutes of reaction, can explain the transient production of this intermediate and that this occurs when the active hydrogen coverage of the catalyst is low.