Tailoring collaborative N–O functionalities of graphene oxide for enhanced selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol

Benzaldehyde (BzH) is an important chemical for industrial feedstock. However, the conventional production processes heavily rely on precious metal catalysts and bring about unavoidable pollution issues. Here we report a new catalytic process to use N-doped graphene oxide (NGO) as catalyst oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BzOH) into BzH by environmentally benign oxidant, peroxymonosulfate (PMS). Different approaches are developed synthesize carbonylated NGO, which shows higher efficiency than C O-deficient NGO. The optimized could achieve 96% BzOH conversion unprecedented 82% yield under mild temperature (50 °C), superior some reported. Experimental studies unveil indispensable roles pyridinic N ketonic O groups in forming electron bridge between PMS non-radical oxidation, or separately inducing radical oxidation. more selective yielding BzH. Furthermore, yielded free from over-oxidation benzoic acid various reaction conditions, because radicals preferentially react with other can hardly adsorb sheets, thus inhibiting its further This work provides cheap material mechanic understanding carbocatalysis green organic synthesis environmental economic perspectives.