Cobalt-chitosan: Magnetic and biodegradable heterogeneous catalyst for selective aerobic oxidation of alkyl arenes and alcohols

A novel and biodegradable cobalt-chitosan as a magnetic heterogeneous catalyst was synthesized and characterized by XPS, FT-IR, EDX and TEM. Catalytic performance of cobalt- chitosan was tested by aerobic oxidation of alkyl arenes and alcohols. The results show that the catalyst exhibits excellent conversion for selective aerobic oxidation of various alkyl arenes, primary and secondary alcohols with air as the only oxidant. The catalyst can be easily separated by magnetic devices and reused for 5 runs without appreciable loss of activity.