Kinetics of the selective oxidation of the lignan hydroxymatairesinol to oxomatairesinol over Au/Al2O3 catalysts

Lignan hydroxymatairesinol (HMR) extracted from Norway spruce knots was oxidized to the lignan oxomatairesinol (oxoMAT) in a semi-batch glass reactor under the atmospheric pressure in the presence of oxygen (5-49 vol.% in nitrogen) over 2 wt.% Au/Al2O3 catalyst, using propan-2-ol-water mixture as a solvent. The following kinetic parameters were determined: adsorption constants, rate constants, reaction order for reagents, and energy of activation. Through the parameter estimation the experimental data were fitted to the advanced kinetic model demonstrating a good correlation between the model and experiments. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.