Clean Alternative for Adipic Acid Synthesis Via Liquid-Phase Oxidation of Cyclohexanone and Cyclohexanol Over H3−2xCoxPMo12O40 Catalysts with Hydrogen Peroxide

Adipic acid (AA) was synthesized from the oxidation of cyclohexanol (-ol), cyclohexanone (-one) and cyclohexanol/cyclohexanone (-ol/-one) mixture over a series of H 3−2x Co x PMo 12 O 40 (x: 0.0–1.5) Keggin-type polyoxometalates as catalysts in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (30 %) under mild conditions (90 °C, 20 h) and in solvent free. The heteropolysalts were prepared from H 3 PMo 12 O 40 and Ba(OH) 2 using the cationic exchange method and characterized by Infrared and diffuse reflectance UV–Vis spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction and TG analyses. The catalytic tests showed that salts are more efficient than the corresponding heteropolyacid and among the H 3−2x Co x PMo 12 O 40 (x: 0.25–1.5) series, H 1 Co 1 PMo 12 exhibits the highest AA yield for whole substrates, with ca. 76, 53 and 43 % from oxidation of -one, -ol and -ol/-one, respectively. Graphical Abstract