Insights into ethylbenzene oxidation catalyzed by transition-metal oxides: Crucial role of hydroperoxide transformation

Selective oxidation of aromatics via a free-radical process is a crucial ingredient in the chemical industry, in which the transformation of hydroperoxide was considered the key step to facilitate the reaction. In this study, the aerobic oxidation of ethylbenzene (EB) to acetophenone (AcPO) catalyzed by carbon nitrides (CNx) supported the transition-metal oxides was performed. Among these catalysts, Co3O4/CNx displayed the highest activity with 48.09 % EB conversion and 77.8 % AcPO selectivity, due to the efficient decomposition of 1-phenylethyl hydroperoxide (PEHP). Notably, in the case of CuO/CNx, the relatively low EB conversion (19.8 %) and high selectivity of AcPO (70.2 %) were observed, while almost no PEHP was detected. Further mechanism investigations revealed that the decomposition of hydroperoxide over CuO/CNx was too fast to generate the reactive free-radicals, which could not efficiently facilitate the propagation steps. Moreover, the addition of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) participated in the α-H abstraction of EB and facilitated of radical propagation, showing the distinguished activities over Co3O4/CNx and CuO/CNx.