New insights for the catalytic oxidation of cyclohexane to K-A oil

Au-based catalysts have been reported to be active in the cyclohexane oxidation to K-A oil, but they showed some limitiations in terms of productivity, selectivity and required reaction conditions. The possibility to overcome some of these limits has been explored coupling Au with Cu, which can be suitable for undergoing the electron-switch in the initial step of the cyclohexane oxidation. Hence, a bimetallic 2 wt% AuCu/Al2O3 catalyst was tested in the oxidation of cyclohexane, working at mild conditions of 120 °C and 4 bar of O2. The combination of the catalyst with a very small amount of benzaldehyde used as cheaper and non-toxic radical initiator allowed to obtain a very high productivity of cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone (45 mmol*mL/mgmet*h) with a selectivity of 94%. Moreover, comparing the catalysed reaction with the non-catalysed one, the role of the catalyst has been disclosed.