Abstract: A silica-supported chitosan (CS) Schiff base (SB) palladium complex (SiO2-CS-SB-Pd) was prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis. The catalytic performance of the catalyst in hydrogenation of a series of aromatic carbonyl compounds was studied. The influence of the reaction time, reaction temperature, and catalyst amount on hydrogenation of benzophenone was also investigated. The results indicated that the SiO2-CS-SB-Pd catalyst has excellent catalytic activity for hydrogenation of the aromatic aldehydes or ketones into corresponding hydrocarbons at low temperature and under 0.1 MPa. The catalyst is perfectly leach-proof and can be recycled at least two consecutive runs without any obvious loss in activity for the hydrogenation of benzophenone.

Key words: chitosan, Schiff base, palladium, aromatic aldehyde, aromatic ketone, catalytic hydrogenation, methene