Room-temperature heterogeneous hydroxylation of phenol with hydrogen peroxide over Fe2+, Co2+ ion-exchanged Na beta zeolite

Ion-exchanged Nabeta zeolite with Fe2+ and Co2+ cations shows high catalytic activity at room temperature in phenol hydroxylation with H2O2, where the conversion of phenol is ca. 21% and the selectivity of benzoquinone is below 3% at a molar ratio of phenol to H2O2 of 3 in the starting aqueous reaction medium.