Ionic liquid infiltrated within metal loaded zeolites for Baeyer-Villiger oxidation reaction under solvent-free condition

We demonstrate the infiltration of ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate) skeleton within robust Co metal loaded mesoporous zeolites viz. Co/ZSM-5 and/or Co/HY to prepare the ([BMIM]BF4@Co/ZSM-5) and/or ([BMIM]BF4@Co/HY) host-guest systems and characterized by various physico-chemical techniques. The catalytic activity of these catalysts was investigated in the liquid phase Baeyer-Villiger (BV) oxidation of cyclohexanone under solvent-free condition. Amongst them, [BMIM]BF4@Co/HY was found to be potential candidate by showing excellent performance with 54.88% conversion of cyclohexanone and 86.36% epsilon-caprolactone selectivity with elevated TOF and TON values of 4312.43 h(-1) and 25874.58, respectively. In addition to this, the host-guest system could be successfully recycled six times without significant loss of activity.