First successful catalysis of aldol condensation with protonated titanate nanotubes

The associates of the »Jožef Stefan« Institute, Melita Sluban (F5), Polona Umek (F5) and Jernej Iskra (K3), in collaboration with the researchers from the University of Ljubljana (Faculty of chemistry and chemical technology) and the University of Bucharest, for the first time successfully catalysed the aldol condensation, which is the most common reaction for creation of new carbon-carbon bonds, using protonated titanate nanotubes. Such a reaction is a ‘green’ alternative to the current industry practice of using stoichiometric amounts of homogeneous catalyst, which cannot be recycled after the reaction ends. In contrast, when using protonated titanate nanotubes, a mere catalytic amount of material ensures a successful reaction, the catalyst can be used several times and it was even successful in a large-scale experiment. The work was published in the article Protonated titanate nanotubes as solid acid catalyst for aldol condensation in the Journal of Catalysis, one of the lead journals in the field of catalysis.