Mo and W Carbide: Tunable Catalysts for Liquid Phase Conversion of Alcohols

The application of Mo and W carbide (Mo2C and WC resp.) in the liq. phase oxidn. of benzyl alc. has been presented. Mo2C and WC are, indeed, considered among the most suitable candidates to replace noble metals for oxidn. reactions because of their well recognized Pt- and Ru-like behavior, resp. The good activity of metal carbides and their low cost, compared with noble metals, makes them appealing systems, worth of further investigations. Moreover, the peculiar tunability of the selectivity of these catalysts depending on the reaction medium has been highlighted