Clean and selective Baeyer–Villiger oxidation of ketones with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by Sn-palygorskite

An environmentally benign and selective Baeyer–Villiger oxidation system is introduced. Palygorskite-supported Sn complexes were prepared by a simple procedure. Cyclic ketones and acyclic ketones were oxidized by hydrogen peroxide in a reaction catalyzed by palygorskite-supported Sn complexes, affording corresponding lactones or esters with selectivity for the product of 90–99%. The influence of the solvents, reaction temperature, the amount of catalyst used and the reaction time on the catalytic activity and product selectivity were investigated in detail. The catalyst is cheap, easy to be prepared in large scale and can be recycled.