Alcohol Oxidation in Ionic Liquid with UHP and Recyclable Amberlite IR-120 Acidic Resin: A Green Approach

Abstract Amberlite IR-120 acidic resin, an age old polymer matrix, plays a significant role as catalyst in the oxidation of aromatic alcohols with urea–hydrogen peroxide in ionic liquid at 70 °C to disproportionate into phenols and carbonyl compounds in 30–60 min following two pathways. Under similar condition tertiary aromatic alcohol gave exclusively monohydroxyphenol accompanied by acetone. However, aliphatic and alicyclic alcohols yielded carbonyl compounds in moderate to good yields in 1–5 h.