Autonomous Metropolitan University, Azcapotzalco 1 article published in JoVE Chemistry HKUST-1 as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the Synthesis of Vanillin Rebeca Yépez1, Juan F. Illescas1, Paulina Gijón1, Manuel Sánchez-Sánchez2, Eduardo González-Zamora3, Rosa Santillan4, J. Raziel Álvarez5, Ilich A. Ibarra5, Julia Aguilar-Pliego1 1Autonomous Metropolitan University-Azcapotzalco, 2Institute of Catalysis and Petroleum Chemistry, ICP-CSIC, 3Department of Chemistry, Autonomous Metropolitan University-Iztapalapa, 4Department of Chemistry, Center of Investigation and Superior Studies (IPN), 5Research Institute of Material, National Autonomous University of Mexico The conversion of trans-ferulic acid to vanillin was achieved by heterogeneous catalysis. HKUST-1 was employed in this synthesis and the essential step in the catalytic process was the generation of unsaturated metal sites. Thus, when the catalyst was activated under vacuum, full vanillin conversion (yield of 95%) was obtained.
