A new application of clay-supported vanadium oxide catalyst to selective hydroxylation of benzene to phenol

The highly selective direct hydroxylation of benzene with hydrogen peroxide to phenol was observed on a clay-supported vanadium oxide catalyst. Under mild reaction conditions at 313 K, high selectivity to phenol of 94% was realized on the clay-supported vanadium oxide catalyst at 14% conversion of benzene, comparable with the well-known TS-1 catalyst. On the other hand, vanadium on other supports and other metals on the clay support gave inferior catalytic performances. V-O-Al and V-O-Si bridges in the catalyst may be responsible for the reaction. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.