Oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde with peroxotungstates in ionic liquids

ORGN 489

Huaming Li, lihm@ujs.edu.cn1, Junxiang Guo1, Wenshuai Zhu1, Zhijun Luo1, and Huoming Shu, shenryone2003@163.com2. (1) College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, Zhenjiang, 212013, China, (2) Department of Chemistry, Hainan Normal University, 99 longkun road, Haikou, 571158, China

Three kinds of peroxotungstates complexes such as (C5H5NC16H33)2W2O3(O2)4, [(CH3)3NC16H33]2W2O3(O2)4, [(C7H7NC12H25(CH3)2]2W2O3(O2)4, had been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, TG-DSC and UV-Vis. Their catalytic properties in oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde by aqueous 30(wt.) % H2O2 were investigated with ionic liquids such as [bmim]BF4, [bmim]PF6 or [omim]BF4 as a solvent. The results show (C5H5NC16H33)2W2O3(O2)4 catalyst exhibits best activity in above catalysts. The oxidation of benzyl alcohol (10 mmol) with 30% H2O2 (11 mmol) catalyzed by (C5H5NC16H33)2W2O3(O2)4 (0.1 mmol) in [bmim]BF4 at 90oC  for 3 h gave 68% yield of benzaldehyde, we found that the reaction system became a homogeneous solution when ionic liquid [bmim]BF4 was added to the oil-water biphasic system, and turned to biphasic systems again after completion of the reaction, which make the separation of product more convenient. In addition, Benzaldehyde can be obtained in 58% yield and 34% in [bmim]PF6 and [omim]BF4, respectively.