CYCLOHEXANE OXIDATION WITH TERTIARY-BUTYLHYDROPEROXIDE CATALYZED BY IRON-PHTHALOCYANINES HOMOGENEOUSLY AND OCCLUDED IN Y-ZEOLITE

Oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone at room tem perature is achieved on iron phthalocyanine complexes encapsulated in Y zeolites with tertiary butyl hydroperoxide as oxygen atom donor. Sor ption measurements show a high preference of the catalyst for polar re agents and products like acetone, cyclohexanol, cyclohexanone and tert iary butyl hydroperoxide. Therefore, the mode of addition of peroxide and the use of solvent have a strong influence on the reaction rate. A fed-batch type set-up with slow addition of the peroxide to the react ion mixture is proven to be the best system, minimizing the decomposit ion reaction of the peroxide and maximizing its selective oxidation re action, Conversion of cyclohexane with iron-phthalocyanines encapsulat ed in Y zeolites is relatively high (up to 25%) with efficiencies betw een 40 and 10% and high selectivities for cyclohexanone (95%). Cyclohe xanol is converted up to 70% with efficiencies around 70%, because the alcohol function is more sensitive to oxidation and sorption effects favor cyclohexanol compared to cyclohexane. The iron-phthalocyanine Y zeolites are regenerable for both reactions. Activities obtained by th e zeolite encapsulated iron-phthalocyanines are higher than the homoge neous complexes which are oxidatively destroyed under reaction conditi ons and therefore not regenerable.