Nanocrystalline metal oxides are highly useful for numerous applications including the area of catalysis where they facilitate organic transformations that are useful for medical and industrial applications. The methods used to synthesize metal oxide catalysts can have a profound influence on their catalytic properties due to differences in their surface composition and chemistry and variations in surface areas. In this study, the production of metal oxide nanoparticles was accomplished with two types of single-source precursors. One kind was based on pyruvic oxime complexes that thermally decompose to produce hydroxylated surfaces awhile the other utilized oxalate complexes that produce non-hydroxylated oxide surfaces. These two approaches are expected to produce catalysts with varying activities and selectivities due to differences in their surface acidity and basicity and surface areas. The properties of the nanocrystalline metal oxides were tested in solvent-free aldol condensations for the production of chalcones and in the intermolecular cyclization of 2,5-hexanedione.

Metal oxide nanoparticles as catalysts for chalcone and intermolecular cyclization reactions

2019 Spring National Meeting

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