Porous Metal Organic Frameworks as Multifunctional Catalysts for Cyclohexane Oxidation

Abstract

[EN] Catalysis drives the conversion of substrates to the wanted products under amenable reaction conditions. In this context, one reaction that is particularly important from the industrial point of view is cyclohexane aerobic oxidation to a mixture of the corresponding cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol. This industrial oxidation is key for the production of Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6, two polyamides of growing production. The industrial process is clearly unsatisfactory since it is run at low cyclohexane conversions to avoid the formation of complex mixtures, difficult to isolate. The present review shows the progress made in the use of metal-organic frameworks as solid catalysts for this important reaction, with emphasis in the intrinsic activity of metal nodes, tuning of the polarity of the internal voids or incorporation of active metal nanoparticles. It is shown that using MOFs as catalysts, it is possible to reach high cyclohexane conversions, while the combined alcohol+ketone selectivity still close to the 90 % limit.