Selective Catalytic Oxidation of Cyclohexene with Molecular Oxygen: Radical Versus Nonradical Pathways

We study the allylic oxidation of cyclohexene with O₂ under mild conditions in the presence of transition-metal catalysts. The catalysts comprise nanometric metal oxide particles supported on porous N-doped carbons (M/N:C, M=V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Nb, Mo, W). Most of these metal oxides give only moderate conversions, and the majority of the products are over-oxidation products. Co/N:C and Cu/N:C, however, give 70–80 % conversion and 40–50 % selectivity to the ketone product, cyclohexene-2-one. Control experiments in which we used free-radical scavengers show that the oxidation follows the expected free-radical pathway in almost all cases. Surprisingly, the catalytic cycle in the presence of Cu/N:C does not involve free-radical species in solution. Optimisation of this catalyst gives >85 % conversion with >60 % selectivity to the allylic ketone at 70 °C and 10 bar O₂. We used SEM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and XRD to show that the active particles have a cupric oxide/cuprous oxide core–shell structure, giving a high turnover frequency of approximately 1500 h⁻¹. We attribute the high performance of this Cu/N:C catalyst to a facile surface reaction between adsorbed cyclohexenyl hydroperoxide molecules and activated oxygen species.