Baeyer–Villiger oxidation of cyclohexanone by molecular oxygen with Fe–Sn–O mixed oxides as catalysts.

Fe-Sn-O mixed oxides were synthesized and used as catalysts for of cyclohexanone, which showed both high and selectivity. X-ray and scanning suggested that the Fe-Sn-O catalysts had a tetragonal structure with a grain size of 29.3 nm. An ε-caprolactone yield as high as 98.8% was obtained in a small-scale experiment (5 mmol of cyclohexanone). In a scale-up test (20 mmol of cyclohexanone), the cyclohexanone conversion and ε-caprolactone yield were 96.7 and 96.5%, respectively. In addition, the catalysts can be reused five times without any major decline in . Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]