Highly dispersed palladium nanoparticles grafted onto nanocrystalline starch for the oxidation of alcohols using molecular oxygen as an oxidant.

Highly dispersed Pd-nanoparticles grafted onto amino-functionalized nanocrystalline starch were found to be excellent heterogeneous catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of a variety of alcohols to their corresponding carbonyl compounds in excellent yields. The prepared catalyst was found to be selective for the oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes without giving over-oxidation products and was recycled several times without any leaching of the metal into the solution.