Vanillin conversion by aldol condensation using hydrotalcite mg-al and modified -y zeolite as heterogeneous catalysts

The obtained results showed that the heterogeneous acid catalysts as modified-Y zeolites were more effective than the heterogeneous base catalysts as hydrotalcite Mg-Al and MgO-Al2O3 mixed oxides in the aldol condensation reaction of vanillin. The highest conversion of vanillin was 95.5 % when the reaction was carried out at 120 oC in 5 hours, using sulfated Y zeolite. The catalytic activity of copper ion-exchanged Y zeolite is more stable than sulfated Y zeolite with the same reaction conditions.