DEHYDRATION-DEHYDROGENATION OF 1-PHENYLETHANOL OVER ACID-BASIC CATALYSTS

1-Phenylethanol transformation over several oxide catalysts (MgO, MgO-B203, ZrO2, A1PO4-SiO2 and a Spanish sepiolite of Vallecas) was used as test reaction to determine their acid-basic properties. Different kinds of surface sites are proposed for dehydration and dehydrogenation processes. Thus, strong basic sites are related to the dehydrogenation process while both weak acid and basic sites are responsible for that of dehydration.