Immobilization of Cu-chelate onto SBA-15 for partial oxidation of benzyl alcohol using water as the solvent

Bis(8-quinolinolato)copper(II) complex immobilized onto SBA-15 catalyst has been synthesized through a stepwise procedure. The characterization results indicated that the BET surface area, total pore volume, and average pore width decrease after stepwise modification of SBA-15, while the structure stays intact. Catalytic tests showed that CuQ(2)-SBA-15 catalyzes the oxidation reaction well with 32.5 % conversion of benzyl alcohol and 81.8 % selectivity to benzaldehyde when water is used as the solvent. In addition, homogeneous catalyst bis(8-quinolinolato)copper(II) exhibits very bad catalytic behavior using water as the solvent.