Highly selective n-alkanes oxidation to ketones with molecular oxygen catalyzed by SBA-15 supported rhenium catalysts

Abstract A series of tricarbonyl Re (V) complexes, i.e. [Re(CO) 3 (κ 3 -PN 2 )] ( 1 ), [Re(CO) 3 Br(κ 2 -H 2 PNO)] ( 2 ), and [Re(CO) 3 Br(κ 2 -HPN-Pip)] ( 3 ), have been covalently anchored over modified SBA-15 as supported catalysts. Remarkably, high catalytic turnover numbers from 2240 to 2857 with high ketone selectivity was obtained for both C 5 and C 6 -alkanes. Best oxidation condition was optimized by the variation of temperature, pressure, time and catalyst amount. A thermal stability test indicates that the catalysts are stable up to 200 °C and ICP shows negligible metal loss from the catalyst surface, after the 7th catalytic cycle, allowing further use.