Resumen de Phenol oxidation catalysed by polymer-supported metal complexes
Ursula Isabel Castro Cevallos
Focussing on the treatment of industrial effluents with high content of organic compounds, the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) develop technologies such as the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of organic compounds (CWPO). The improvement of this process is based on the variation either of the catalyst or the oxidant source. The present research work proposes to get advantage of the catalytic activity of homogeneous catalysts, avoiding the metal contamination of the reaction media by the heterogenization of Cu(II) ions over polymeric matrices, to finally use them as catalysts in the CWPO of phenol. From the group of synthesised catalysts, it was identified two suitable catalysts: Cu(II) adsorbed onto poly(4-vinylpyridine) with 2% of cross-linking and Cu(II) loaded in poly (DVB-co-VBC) functionalised with imino diacetic acid. Both catalysts demonstrated high catalytic activity without Cu(II) release, concluding that heterogenization of catalysts for the CWPO is an ascertained decision to promote phenol degradation.
