Synthesis of lanthanum-doped niobium(V) oxide and its application in the esterification reaction of oleic acid with ethanol

Abstract

Niobium(V) oxide, Nb₂O₅, is a material that has been gaining prominence in research due to its application in catalysis of organic reactions, among these the esterification reaction, one of the most important in modern society. To change the properties of catalysts in order to improve them, they can be doped with other elements. In view of these points, the focus of this work was synthesized amorphous niobium(V) oxide doped with lanthanum and compare its catalytic action with amorphous niobium(V) oxide and pseudo-hexagonal niobium(V) oxide synthesized by the solvothermal route in the reaction esterification of oleic acid with ethanol. The pseudohexagonal niobium(V) oxide was synthesized by conventionally heating a solution containing niobium(V) ions in benzyl alcohol and the amorphous catalysts heated by microwaves at 2.45 GHz. At the end of the work, with catalytic tests of 1 hour at 60 °C and varying the catalyst by 0.2% and 0.6%, the amorphous sample showed higher conversion rates, and with the addition of lanthanum there was a small increase of this rate.