Sciencemadness Discussion Board

metal oxide catalyst

navnath - 18-4-2006 at 03:58

plz tell me what r metal oxide catalyst.
plz name some of the common one.
can i use these for the reaction of transesterification

Fleaker - 18-4-2006 at 06:19

I have no idea what type of metal oxide you would use for a transesterification. Transestefication to what type of smaller ester? Are you talking about transesterifying say a triglyceride (i.e. vegetable oils, let's say canola\rapeseed oil) into its methyl ester?

I'm guessing that's what you're after, some information on FAMEs (fatty acid methyl esters) which are commonly used in biodiesels, and in quantitate analysis of the fatty acids (ex. myristic, palmitic, linoleic, olei acid, etc.). These transestefications are usually done using methanol solution of sodium methoxide and/or boron trifluoride, diazomethane works as well.



Some common metal oxides that exhibit catalytic activity (to name a few) would be nickel oxide, copper oxide, lanthanum nickel oxide (LaNiO3), even iron (II) oxide exhibits some activity. Much depends on the reaction conditions and also the reaction itself. They help reactions go to completion more quickly by lowering the activation energy barrier (like any catalyst). If you're concerned about the mechanism behind the reactions, or have some particular catalyst(s) in mind, I suggest you consult the ACS journals, or go to a college library to research.

[Edited on 18-4-2006 by Fleaker]