Study of ethylbenzene oxidation over polymer-silica hybrid supported Co (II) and Cu (II) complexes

Polymer-silica hybrid support (SA-2-AMPS-SiO2) was synthesized and Co (II), Cu (II) metals were loaded over hybrid support by incipient impregnation technique. Oxidation of ethylbenzene was carried out for testing catalytic activity of catalysts at different reaction conditions i.e. the mole ratio of ethylbenzene to TBHP and reaction temperature. The main oxidation product was acetophenone along with benzaldehyde as the minor product and the highest ethylbenzene conversion (83.65 %) was attained at a 1:4 mol ratio of ethylbenzene to TBHP and temperature at 100 °C. The reusability of the catalysts was also determined and results showed that they can be easily reused three times without much loss in their structural and catalytic properties.