Ethylbenzene Degradation: Scientometric Mapping and Mn-Porphyrin-Based Catalysis through Multivariate Optimization

BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene) is a group of volatile and highly toxic aromatic hydrocarbons used in the production of styrene, solvents, and fuels. They represent a class of components identified as soil and water pollutants; thus, studies correlate BTEX with environmental imbalance and total daily mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and respiratory mortality. Ethylbenzene is a persistent, toxic component with bioaccumulation potential. In this context, the present work focuses on the development of environmentally friendly catalytic systems with porphyrins chloride of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-carbomethoxyphenyl)porphyrinatemanganese(III) (MnP1) and chloride of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-carboxyphenyl)porphyrinatemanganese(III) (MnP2) (both catalysts), under mild and solvent-free conditions, using t-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) (oxidant) for the degradation of ethylbenzene. The scientometric study focused on ethylbenzene degradation was performed, the design of experiments approach was used to optimize the use of catalysts, 99.5% of degradation was obtained by carboxylated Mn-porphyrin. The active species were proposed based on experiments using inhibitors and EPR.