Aerobic oxidation of glucosamine-HCl over AuPd-supported catalyst in a liquid-flow system

Abstract Both a batch and a continuous-flow reactor system were investigated in the oxidation reaction of glucosamine hydrochloride (GlcN-HCl) into glucosaminic acid. In the batch reactor system, AuPd-supported catalysts using basic supports such as MgO and hydrotalcite (HT) effectively catalyzed the target oxidation reaction. Although, in the liquid-flow reaction system, these catalysts showed a gradual decrease in their activity due to exposure to the acidic nature of the GlcN-HCl product, the addition of NaOH to maintain the basic reaction condition allowed the yield to remain stable over a longer reaction time, with approximately 80% yield for 9 h of reaction in both the AuPd/MgO and AuPd/HT cases.