Quinone-amine polymers derived N and O dual doped carbocatalyst for metal-free benzyl alcohol aerobic oxidation

Abstract Carbon-based materials are promising environmentally benign heterogeneous catalysts for metal-free catalysis. Aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohol to aldehydes over carbocatalyst under mild reaction condition is still a great challenge. In the present work, quinone-amine based carbon (QAC) was rationally prepared from the qiunone-amine polymer. The QAC catalyst showed excellent catalytic efficiency for oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde in water. The TOF can reach 29.7 × 10−4 mol∙g-1 h-1 at room temperature under 1 bar O2. To our best knowledge, this is highest activity of metal-free carbocatalyst for the titled reaction. The doped O afforded active sites to enhance activity while doped N offered the radical confinement effect to guarantee the selectivity. The present results demonstrate the QAC catalyst is promising carbon materials for “green catalysis” of aerobic selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde.