Oxidation of Phenol and Toluene over Polymer Supported Co(II) and Fe(III) Catalysts

Abstract

Polymer supported iron and cobalt complexes of 2,6-bis(benzimidazolyl)pyridine (BBP) abbreviated as Fe(PS-BBP)Cl₃ and Co(PS-BBP)Cl₂ exhibited catalytic activity towards oxidation of phenol and toluene to give catechol and benzaldehyde as major products respectively using TBHP as oxidant. The influences of temperature, reaction time, solvents, concentration of catalyst, substrate to oxidant ratio and oxidants on the oxidation reactions were studied. At optimized conditions, Fe(PS-BBP)Cl₃ gave 92.3 % conversion of phenol and 88.2 % toluene whereas,  Co(PS-BBP)Cl₂ gave 97.5 and 86.3 % conversion of phenol and toluene respectively. Catalysts are recyclable without loss in their activity and possible mechanisms of these reactions were also worked out.