Synthesis of a sulfonato-salen-nickel(II) complex immobilized in LDH for tetralin oxidation

A novel sulfonato-salen-nickel(II) complex has been immobilized on a Zn(II)-Al(III) layered double hydroxide (LDH) host. XRD, FT-IR, TGA and UV-vis spectroscopy, as well as chemical analysis, confirmed the successful incorporation of the nickel-salen complex within the LDH structure. BET surface area measurements, SEM and TEM were also used to characterize the heterogenized catalyst. The sulfonato-salen-nickel(II) complex-immobilized material, LDH-[nickel-salen], was found to be effective in the oxidation of tetralin, where a combination of trimethylacetaldehyde and dioxygen at atmospheric pressure was employed as the oxidant. At 72.3% conversion, tetralin was converted to 1-tetralone with 72.2% selectivity at 70 degrees C after 7 h. Tetralin oxidation using tert-butyl hydroperoxide afforded a lower conversion and selectivity of 1-tetralone than with trimethylacetaldehyde and dioxygen as the oxidant. The effect of various reaction parameters on catalytic performance was also investigated. A hot filtration experiment coupled with a blank test revealed that oxidation proceeded mostly on nickel-salen sites in LDH-[nickel-salen]. A reaction mechanism is proposed based on the experimental results.