Mechanochemically modified aluminosilicates for efficient oxidation of vanillyl alcohol.

Abstract A mechanochemical protocol was applied to the synthesis of a magnetic material based on iron oxide nanoparticles and Al-SBA-15. Full characterization of the prepared Fe 2 O 3 /Al-SBA-15 evidenced the effective functionalization of the aluminosilicate surface. Particularly, TEM analysis revealed that the mechanochemical protocol did not considerable affect the hexagonal ordered structure of Al-SBA-15. DRIFT experiments of Fe 2 O 3 /Al-SBA-15 showed interesting acidic properties, which can be further associated to a good catalytic performance. The catalytic behavior of the prepared material was tested in the oxidation of vanillyl alcohol to vanillin, displaying an excellent activity and selectivity. The material resulted to be highly stable in the aforementioned reaction, without considerable decrease of conversion after 10 reuse cycles. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Simple mechanochemical synthesis of Fe 2 O 3 /Al-SBA-15. • Efficient oxidation of vanillyl alcohol to vanillin. • Highly active oxidation catalysts (>99% conversion, 88% selectivity). • Stable mechanochemical systems with almost full initial activity after ten reuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]