Aerobic Oxidation of Benzylic Hydrocarbons by Iron-Based Metal Organic Framework as Solid Heterogeneous Catalyst

摘要

In the present work, the aerobic oxidation of indan is reported using Fe(BTC) (BTC: 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate) as solid heterogeneous catalyst and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) as an additive under mild reaction conditions. Although aerobic oxidation of indane has been reported earlier using MOFs as heterogeneous catalysts, these methods require higher reaction temperature and catalytic amounts of radical initiator. Therefore, this study aims to report the aerobic oxidation of indan employing Fe(BTC) as catalyst without the need of initiators under mild reaction temperature. The catalytic data reveal that the indan conversion reaches to 18% with 97% selectivity of indanol at 80°C in acetonitrile as solvent. Furthermore, the catalyst stability is surveyed by performing reusability experiments and observing no decay in its activity. On other hand, comparison of fresh with three times reused Fe(BTC) samples by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicates that the crystallinity and morphology of the reused sample, respectively is retained during the course of the reaction. Finally, two times reused Fe(BTC) exhibits similar electron spin resonance (ESR) pattern with that of fresh Fe(BTC), suggesting no changes in the oxidation state of iron.