A significant promotion of the iron tetra(p-methoxylphenyl) porphyrin catalysis for the aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane using boehmite

• Published in: Journal of experimental nanoscience Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 640 - 648
• Main Authors: Fan, Min-Guang, Luo, Zong-Chang, Huang, Guan, Xiang, Feng, Guo, Yong-An, Zhou, Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 01.05.2013
• Subjects: air; Boehmite; Catalysts; Cyclohexane; cyclohexane oxidation; Iron; iron tetra (p-methoxylphenyl) porphyrin; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Oxidation; Porphyrins
• ISSN: 1745-8080; 1745-8099
• DOI: 10.1080/17458080.2011.591000

An important issue for the application of metalloporphyrins in the chemical industry is the preparation of a reusable and active supported catalyst. In this work, a new nanocatalyst material consisting of boehmite and a second-generation iron tetraphenylporphyrin with electron-donating groups (methoxyl) has been prepared and characterised using UV-Vis and FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and thermal analysis. The reusability of the boehmite-supported iron tetra (p-methoxylphenyl) porphyrin catalyst for the aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane was investigated. The supported catalyst material containing only 1 mg of iron tetra (p-methoxylphenyl) porphyrin per 1 g of boehmite could be recovered easily and reused effectively for at least 10 times for the oxidation of cyclohexane. The oxidative results gave, on average, 5.1% cyclohexane conversion, 91.2% selectivity (ketone + alcohol) and a catalyst turnover number of 7.91 × 10 4 over several cycles using moderate reaction conditions. The special character of the catalyst material is related to the structure of the combined boehmite and iron porphyrin.