Solvent Isotope Effect on Transfer Hydrogenation of H₂O with Glycerine under Alkaline Hydrothermal Conditions
Pages 72-76
Zheng Shen, Minyan Gu, Shiyang Liu, Wenjie Dong and Yalei Zhang

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-6002.2014.03.02.5

Published: 30 May 2014

Abstract: Solvent isotope effect was investigated with ¹H-, ²H-NMR, LC-MS and Gas-MS analyses on transfer hydrogenation of H₂O with glycerine under alkaline hydrothermal conditions. The results from solvent isotope studies showed that (1) the H on the β-C of lactate was almost exchanged by D₂O, which suggests that the hydroxyl (-OH) group on the 2-C of glycerine was first transformed into a carbonyl (C=O) group and then was converted back into a -OH group to form lactate; (2) The presence of large amountsof D was found in the produced hydrogen gas, which shows that the water molecules acted as a reactant; and (3) D% in the produced hydrogen gas was far more than 50%, which straightforwardly shows that acetol was formed in the first place as the most probable intermediate by undergoing a dehydration reaction rather than a dehydrogenation reaction.