The indirect conversion of glycerol into 1,3-dihydroxyacetone over magnetic polystyrene nanosphere immobilized TEMPO catalyst

Abstract The effectiveness of indirect oxidation of glycerol to prepare 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) was further verified in this work. The oxidation of the 1,3-acetalized glycerol (5-hydroxyl-2-phenyl-1,3-dioxane, HPD) to 1,3-acetalized dihydroxyacetone (2-phenyl-1,3-dioxan-5-one, PDO) was successfully achieved by Montanari oxidation system (NaClO/NaBr/Magnetic recyclable TEMPO). The magnetic polystyrene nanosphere immobilized TEMPO catalyst (1.02 mmol g −1 nitroxyl radical) was readily prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, particle size analysis, and TEM. The catalyst can be used as recyclable and efficient catalyst for HPD oxidation, and high catalytic activity for up to five cycles was obtained. The target product DHA can be efficiently separated by biphasic extraction without complicated purification. The overall yield of DHA was 95.3%, and 78.1% yield with >99% purity after crystallization.