Facile synthesis of ultra-stable Co-N-C catalysts using cobalt porphyrin and peptides as precursors for selective oxidation of ethylbenzene

The highly dispersed active sites are desirable to optimize the atom efficiency. In this study, a series of novel cobalt grafted in N-doped carbon (Co-N-C) catalysts for selective oxidation of ethylbenzene are synthesized by heating a solution of cobalt porphyrin and peptides in ionic liquids, which are also characterized by techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, SEM-EDX, HR-TEM, and XPS. The results show that the as-prepared catalysts have an attractive catalytic performance, namely, 40% of ethylbenzene conversion and 75% of selectivity to acetophenone. Especially, the activity and selectivity of the as-prepared catalysts remain almost similar even after the 10th run. Moreover, the modified-complexometry method is verified to improve the dispersion of metal active sites. The remarkable catalytic performance of the as-prepared catalysts is attributed to the highly dispersed active sites and strong interactions between Co and N species in Co-N-x moieties.