Highly selective oxidation of tetralin to 1-tetralone over mesoporous CrMCM-41 molecular sieve catalyst using supercritical carbon dioxide

Selective oxidation of tetralin by molecular oxygen over mesoporous CrMCM-41 molecular sieve catalyst using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)) solvent has been investigated. CrMCM-41 catalyst gave high selectivity (96.2%) and good yield (63.4%) of 1-tetralone. The presence of scCO2 medium improves 1-tetralone selectivity and suppresses leaching of chromium from the CrMCM-41. The activity over recycled CrMCM-41 remains nearly the same under the present experimental conditions. The effect of the reaction parameters on CrMCM-41 was also studied in detail along with comparison of its catalytic activities with other mesoporous catalysts, viz. MnMCM-41, CoMCM-41, microporous CrAPO-5, CoMFI, and macroporous Cr/SiO2 catalyst, respectively. In addition this catalytic system was also applied for the oxidation of other benzylic compounds such as indane, fluorene, acenaphthene and diphenylmethane.