Palladium containing periodic mesoporous organosilica with imidazolium framework (Pd@PMO-IL): an efficient and recyclable catalyst for the aerobic oxidation of alcohols

The application of a novel palladium containing ionic liquid based periodic mesoporous organosilica (Pd@PMO-IL) catalyst in the aerobic oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols under molecular oxygen and air atmospheres is investigated. It was found that the catalyst is quite effective for the selective oxidation of several activated and non-activated alcoholic substrates. The catalyst system could be successfully recovered and reused several times without any significant decrease in activity and selectivity. Moreover, the hot filtration test, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AA) and kinetic study with and without selective catalyst poisons showed that the catalyst works in a heterogeneous pathway without any palladium leaching in reaction solution. Furthermore, nitrogen-sorption experiment and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image proved the superior stability of high-ordered PMO-IL mesostructure during reaction process. TEM image also confirmed the presence of well-distributed Pd-nanoparticles in the uniform mesochannels of the material. These observations can be attributed to the ionic liquid nature of PMO-IL mesostructure which facilitates the reaction through production, chemical immobilization and stabilization of active palladium nanoparticles, as well as preventing Pd-agglomeration during overall process.