Active Sites and Mechanisms for Direct Oxidation of Benzene to Phenol over Carbon Catalysts1. Issue 13 (3rd February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wen, Guodong; Wu, Shuchang; Li, Bo; Dai, Chunli; Su, Dang Sheng
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 54:Issue 13(2015)
• Page Start: 4105
• Page End: 4109
• Publication Date: 2015-02-03
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201410093
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>The direct oxidation of benzene to phenol with H₂O₂ as the oxidizer, which is regarded as an environmentally friendly process, can be efficiently catalyzed by carbon catalysts. However, the detailed roles of carbon catalysts, especially what is the active site, are still a topic of debate controversy. Herein, we present a fundamental consideration of possible mechanisms for this oxidation reaction by using small molecular model catalysts, Raman spectra, static secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), DFT calculations, quasi in situ ATR‐IR and UV spectra. Our study indicates that the defects, being favorable for the formation of active oxygen species, are the active sites for this oxidation reaction. Furthermore, one type of active defect, namely the armchair configuration defect was successfully identified.</p> </abstract>