A catalyst for green and efficient catalytic oxidation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone by molecular oxygen: Vanadium modified graphitic carbon nitride

Cyclohexanone is a significant chemical product, often used as an organic solvent or as a key intermediate in the production of caprolactam, adipic acid, nylon 6, and nylon 6,6. The traditional preparation process has limitations such as low product yield, complex process, environmental pollution, and high cost. Therefore, developing a green and efficient catalytic system for the preparation of cyclohexanone has great potential and application value. In this work, a transition metal vanadium modified g-C3N4 (graphitic carbon nitride) catalyst was reported and fabricated for the first time, which was applied to catalyze the oxidation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone by molecular oxygen. The catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity and high selectivity for cyclohexanone, and its catalytic performance remained very stable after 8 cycles of use. By using SEM-EDS, N2 adsorptiondesorption, TG, FT-IR, XRD, and XPS characterization techniques, the morphology, composition structure, and some physicochemical properties of the catalyst were clarified. In addition, this work investigated the effects of catalyst precursor types, vanadium content, and reaction conditions (temperature, time, and pressure) on the reaction and tested the cyclic performance of the catalyst. This method used pure oxygen as the oxidant and did not require the addition of other solvents or additives during the reaction process, making it a simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly method for preparing cyclohexanone.