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Updated: Sep 4, 2025

Light-driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation
Published on: May 22, 2016
Transfer hydrogenation of ketone; an in situ approach toward an eco-friendly reduction
Oluwatayo Racheal Onisuru1, Dele Peter Fapojuwo1, Charles O Oseghale1
1Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Johannesburg P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park Johannesburg 2006 South Africa rmeijboom@uj.ac.za +27 (0)11 559 2819 +27 (0)72 894 0293.
Abstract:
The use of water as a solvent in chemical reactions has recently been brought to public attention, especially in the exploration of eco-friendly procedures. It is readily available, abundantly accessible, non-toxic, non-flammable, and at a low cost. As opposed to the previous limitation of reactant solubilities associated with aqueous media, a hydrogel such as a hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) solution can significantly improve the reactant solubility. This investigation employed water and HPMC as the reaction solvent, and the reaction medium viscosity was impressively enhanced. Silica-supported Pd particles (Pd@SiO2) were synthesized and effectively catalyzed the reduction of acetophenone in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as the hydrogen source. The conversion of acetophenone to 1-phenyl ethanol remained at a very high value of >99.34% with 100% selectivity towards 1-phenyl ethanol.
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