Efficient Aerobic Oxidation of Alcohols using a Hydrotalcite-Supported Gold Nanoparticle Catalyst

Hydrotalcite-supported gold nanoparticles (Au/HT) were found to be a highly efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the-aerobic oxidation of alcohols under mild reaction conditions (40 degrees C, in air). This catalyst system does not require any additives and is applicable to a wide range of alcohols, including less reactive cyclohexanol derivatives. This Au/HT catalyst could also function in the oxidation of 1-phenyl-ethanol under neat conditions; the turnover number (TON) and turnover frequency (TOF) reached 200,000 and 8,300 h(-1), respectively. These values are among the highest values compared to those of other reported catalyst systems at high conversion. Moreover, the Au/HT can be recovered by simple filtration and reused without any loss of its activity and selectivity.