Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2011, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (1): 118-122.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1088.2010.00734

• Research papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Selective Oxidation of Alcohols Catalyzed by a Transition Metal-Free System of NHPI/DDQ/NaNO2

ZHOU Lipeng1, ZHANG Chaofeng1, FANG Tao1, ZHANG Bingbing1, WANG Ying1, YANG Xiaomei1,*, ZHANG Wei2, XU Jie2   

  1. 1Department of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, Henan, China; 2State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China
  • Received:2010-07-30 Revised:2010-09-19 Online:2011-01-13 Published:2014-05-22

Abstract: A transition metal?free catalyst composed of N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI), 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-benzoquinone (DDQ), and NaNO2 was studied for the selective oxidation of alcohols using O2 as oxidant. The reaction results showed that this catalyst system can effectively catalyze the oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes or ketones. 99% selectivity for benzaldehyde at 65% conversion of benzyl alcohol was obtained at 80 °C for 6 h. In the process of reaction, DDQ abstracted a hydrogen atom from NHPI to generate a highly reactive PINO free radical and hydroquinone. Then, PINO abstracted a hydrogen atom from alcohols to generate aldehydes or ketones. Finally, NO from NaNO2 decomposition in the reaction media catalyzed the oxidation of hydroquinone to quinone by O2.

Key words: N-hydroxyphthalimide, 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano benzoquinone, sodium nitrite, selective oxidation, oxygen, alcohol