Heterogeneous Catalytic Synthesis of 2-Methylbenzimidazole from 2-Nitroaniline and Ethanol Over Mg Modified Cu-Pd/γ-Al2O3

The direct synthesis of benzimidazoles from 2-nitroaniline and ethanol over Cu-Pd/γ-Al2O3 catalysts has the advantages of requiring easily available starting materials, having high efficiency, and a simple procedure. The modification by Mg of the Cu-Pd/γ-Al2O3 catalyst could improve the catalytic activity significantly. The addition of Mg to the Cu-Pd/γ-Al2O3 catalyst could maintain and promote the formation of CuPd alloy active sites. Meanwhile, the basicity of the support was enhanced appropriately by Mg, which generated more basic sites (Al-Oδ−) to accelerate the dehydrogenation of alcohol and increased the rate of the whole coupled reaction. The 2-nitroaniline was completely converted over Cu-Pd/(Mg)γ-Al2O3 after reacting for six hours, and the yield of 2-methylbenzimidazole was 98.8%. The results of this work provide a simple method to develop a more efficient catalyst for the “alcohol-dehydrogenation, hydrogen transfer and hydrogenation” coupled reaction system.