Gold, palladium and gold-palladium supported nanoparticles for the synthesis of glycerol carbonate from glycerol and urea

Supported Au-Pd nanoparticles are shown to be effective catalysts for the transformation of glycerol into glycerol carbonate. The reaction of glycerol with urea to form glycerol carbonate is a very attractive reaction that utilises two inexpensive and readily available raw materials in a chemical cycle that, overall, results in the chemical fixation of carbon dioxide. Previous reports are largely based on the utilisation of high concentrations of metal sulphates or oxides, which suffer from low intrinsic activity and selectivity and limited recoverability due to the dissolution of the catalyst in the reaction media. We now report that magnesium oxide is an excellent support for gold and bimetallic gold-palladium nanoparticles for this reaction. The preparation method and pre-treatment affect the catalytic performance and a colloidal preparation route produces the most active catalysts. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry.