Direct synthesis of phenol from benzene catalyzed by multi-V-POMs complex Original Research Article

A novel catalyst, [Mo2V2O9(bpy)6][PMo11VO40], was synthesized by the self-assembling of [PMo11VO40]4− and [Mo2V2O9(bpy)6]4+ unit and characterized by elemental analyses, TG, IR, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray single crystal diffraction. [Mo2V2O9(bpy)6][PMo11VO40] with multi-isolated active sites showed good catalytic activities for hydroxylation of benzene to phenol. A high yield of phenol (25.5%) with selectivity to phenol of 90.7% was obtained using H2O2 as oxidant. The catalyst can be recycled for 5 times while its structure was unchanged and its catalytic activity was maintained.