Catalytic C–H aerobic and oxidant-induced oxidation of alkylbenzenes (including toluene derivatives) over VO(2+) immobilized on core–shell Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) at room temperature in water

Direct C–H bond oxidation of organic materials, and producing the necessary oxygenated compounds under mild conditions, has attracted increasing interest. The selective oxidation of various alkylbenzenes was carried out by means of a new catalyst containing VO(2+) species supported on silica-coated Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles using t-butyl hydroperoxide as an oxidant at room temperature in H(2)O or solvent-free media. The chemical and structural characterization of the catalyst using several methods such as FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, FETEM, FESEM, SAED, EDX and XPS showed that VO(2+) is covalently bonded to the silica surface. High selectivity and excellent conversion of various toluene derivatives, with less reactive aliphatic (sp(3)) C–H bonds, to related benzoic acids were quite noticeable. The aerobic oxygenation reaction of these alkylbenzenes was studied under the same conditions. All the results accompanied by sustainability of the inexpensive and simple magnetically separable heterogeneous catalyst proved the important criteria for commercial applications.