Singlet oxygen in the heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of benzene

The partial oxidation of benzene on vanadium and molybdenum oxides and the participation of singlet oxygen in this reaction were studied. A correlation between the activity of the catalysts in the partial oxidation of benzene and their ability to generate singlet oxygen was observed. The character of the initiation of oxidative benzene transformations under the action of molecular singlet oxygen was analyzed.