Rice husk derived nanosilica supported Cu(ii) complex: an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for oxidation of alcohols using TBHP

Abstract

We have developed a heterogenized catalyst of Cu(II) complex immobilized onto nanosilica obtained from rice husk (RH), through coordination of imine, generated via Schiff-base condensation between 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) functionalized nanosilica and acetamide. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, BET surface area measurements, ESR, SEM-EDX and ICP-AES. The synthesized catalyst showed excellent activity towards controlled oxidation of different primary and secondary alcohols in the presence of tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide (TBHP). Furthermore, the catalysts could be recovered by simple filtrations and can be reused upto many consecutive cycles without loss in activity.