Vanadium-containing Silsesquioxane-catalyzed Photo-assisted Oxidation of Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Abstract The activity of a vanadium-containing oligosilsesquioxane towards the photo-assisted catalytic oxidation of benzene and cyclohexane was investigated for the first time in order to examine its ability as an organic solvent-soluble analogue of silica-supported oxide catalysts. An oligosilsesquioxane, 1b, showed excellent activity toward the selective photooxidation of cyclohexane into cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol (TON ∼ 20, at 305 K, 6 h).