The two main desired products of cyclohexane oxidation are cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone, which are the key intermediates for nylon production. Industrially, the oxidation of cyclohexane is run with either no catalysts or with a homogenous cobalt catalyst that acts as a radical initiator with low conversion but high selectivity. Both reactions require careful control as they demand high temperatures and pressures, and use oxygen gas as the oxidant. This work studied the rock-salt metal oxide MgO under conditions similar to those used industrially for the oxidation of cyclohexane. The catalytic oxidation of cyclohexane with different amounts of catalysts, namely MgO(111) and Au/MgO(111), were carried out under various reaction conditions in order to elucidate the kinetics of the reaction and further our understanding of the catalyst’s role in activity and selectivity. The results indicated that increasing the reaction time increases the selectivity of cyclohexane oxidation. However, the amount of catalysts used did not demonstrate significant effect on the conversion or selectivity.

Cyclohexane oxidation over rock-salt structured metal oxides as catalysts

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.