Catalytic oxidation of cyclohexene by α-zirconium phosphate intercalated Mn(Salen) using 70% <em>tert-</em>butylhydroperoxide as an oxidant

Abstract

A heterogeneous catalyst, α-zirconium phosphate intercalated Mn(Salen) complex, abbreviated as {α-ZrP.Mn(Salen)} has been synthesized by the flexible ligand method. The resulting compound is characterized by BET surface area, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectroscopy. The catalytic activity of α-ZrP.Mn(Salen) has been tested for the oxidation of cyclohexene using 70% <em>tert</em>-butylhydroperoxide as an oxidant. In the oxidation reaction, cyclohexene is oxidized to cyclohexene oxide, cyclohexenol and cyclohexenone. Influence of various reaction parameters, viz., reaction temperature, catalyst concentration, substrate concentration and oxidant concentration are studied. Under the optimized conditions, oxidation of cyclohexene gives a maximum of 85.50% conversion. The major order of selectivity of the product is: cyclohexenone > cyclohexenol > cyclohexene oxide. The catalyst can be reused for three cycles without significant loss of catalytic activity. The heterogeneity of the catalyst has been tested by hot filtration experiment.