Recent developments in liquid-phase selective oxidation using environmentally benign oxidants and mesoporous metal silicates

This Perspective article surveys recent advances in the synthesis of mesoporous transition-metalcontaining silicate materials and their use for the liquid-phase selective oxidation of organic compounds (alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, S-compounds, etc.) with environmentally friendly oxidants -molecular oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and organic hydroperoxides. A selection of the most relevant results reported thus far in the literature is provided, with particular attention paid to the issues of the nature of catalysis, catalyst stability and reusability. Approaches elaborated in recent years to create hydrothermally stable mesoporous metal silicates are considered, and the scope and limitations of such catalysts in liquidphase oxidations are discussed.