In this study, the oxidation of benzyl alcohols to aldehydes using nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon spheres as a heterogeneous catalyst was investigated for the first time. Initially, Stöber method was used to synthesize silicate-polyaminophenol-formaldehyde structures using tetraethyl orthosilicate, 3-aminophenol, and ethylene diamine as silica templates, carbon precursors, and regulators, respectively, in an aqueous-ethanol medium with ammonia as a catalyst. The synthesized structure transformed into N-doped carbon-silica structure during annealing under inert gas. N-doped mesoporous carbon spheres were formed after etching the silica network with sodium hydroxide. The amount of nitrogen loading was determined by elemental analysis, and its amount was determined to be 8.00 wt%. The surface area determined by nitrogen absorption and desorption analysis is 1186 m2g-1. Based on FE-SEM images, the average particle size is about 300 nm. Aqueous benzyl alcohol oxidation was carried out using the synthesized catalyst to investigate its catalytic activity. A study has been conducted to assess the effects of temperature, time, oxidant type, and catalyst amount on reaction yield as well as catalyst recycling potential. The synthesized catalyst shows remarkable catalytic performance for benzyl alcohol oxidation, achieving high yield (over 88% within 6 h) and selectivity (99%). The catalytic activity did not change significantly after four recycling cycles.

Benzyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase (BADH) is an important enzyme for hydrocarbon degradation, which can oxidize benzyl alcohols to aldehydes, while being capable of catalyzing a reversible reaction by reducing benzaldehyde. BADH is a member of medium chain alcohol dehydrogenases, in which zinc and NAD are essential for enzyme activity. This paper describes the expression, purification, and characterization of recombinant benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase, encoded by xylB gene from Rhodococcus ruber UKMP-5M. The gene has been amplified and cloned into E. coli, and the recombinant plasmid pGEMT-xylB has been digested by NdeI and HindIII to construct plasmid pET28b-xylC and then ligated into E. coli BL21 (DE3), itself induced by 0. 3 mM isopropyl β-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) at 25° C. The expressed BADH has been 38 kDa, and is purified by affinity chromatography, in which the specific activity was 30 U/mg after 17 folds purification, leading to a NAD-dependent enzyme that uses benzyl alcohol as a substrate for enzyme characterization. The final metabolite is benzaldehyde, identified by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The BADH activity has been 0. 7 U/mL and the optimum pH and temperature, 9. 5 and 30º C, respectively. Also the Michaelis constant (Km) and maximum velocity (Vmax) have accounted to 705 μ M and 1. 3 U/mL, respectively. Benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase from R. ruber UKMP-5M can be used for hydrocarbon biodegradation in contaminated sites.

Densities and refractive indices were measured for the binary liquid mixtures formed by benzonitrile, chlorobenzene, benzyl chloride, and benzyl alcohol with benzene at (T=298.15, 303.15, 308.15 and 313.15 K) and atmospheric pressure over the whole concentration range. The Lorentz–Lorentz mixing rule, the Ramaswami and Anbananthan model, and the model devised by Glinski were used to study the refractive index and molar refractivity. These results have been discussed to study the type of mixing behavior between the mixing molecules. The measured data were fitted to the Redlich–Kister polynomial relation to estimate the binary coefficients and standard errors. Furthermore, the McAllister multibody interaction model is used to correlate the binary refractive index with the experimental findings. It is observed that molar refractivity, molecular interaction, and association constant can be better understood from these models.

In this research, poly organo silsesquioxane with a functional group which contains the chlorine atom has been prepared to support a functionalized phthalocyanine complex. The prepared catalyst has been characterized with powder X-ray diffraction pattern, field emission scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. This catalyst was then used for catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol and some parameters in this model reaction have been optimized such as the type of oxidant and solvent, amount of catalyst, reaction temperature and time. It was found that the optimum conditions are 40 mg catalyst in acetonitrile as solvent with tert-butylhydroperoxide as oxidant at 82 C which gives 70% yield.

Evonymus japonicus belongs to Celasteraceae family and cultivated in the different parts of the world. Aroma of flowers is very hectic and the plant is a host of the sugar beet fly. In order to study the volatile constituents, its flowers were collected in June, extracted by solvent (hexane) and examined by GC/MS. Twenty compounds identified representing about 95.2 % of the extract. It was dominated by 46.6% alcohol. The major components of flowers extract were phenylethyl alcohol (29.4%), benzyl butanoate (28.6 %) and benzyl alcohol (11.1%).Other main components were phenylethyl propinate (8.5%), eugenol (4.8%), nonalal (2.9%) and 1, 3, 5-trimethoxy benzene (2.7%).