Ultralow Loading Cobalt-Based Nanocatalyst for Benign and Efficient Aerobic Oxidation of Allylic Alcohols and Biobased Olefins

The synthesis of α,β-unsaturated ketones from aerobic oxidation of allylic alcohols and biobased olefins serves as an important topic in green and sustainable chemistry. In this work, we report the utilization of a sacrificial template ZIF-8 for preparation of mesoporous Co0.05/N–C material with an ultralow cobalt loading of 0.05 wt %, in which the excellent catalytic performance in aerobic oxidation of α-pinene and cinnamyl alcohol was achieved with an 85% yield of verbenone and a yield of cinnamaldehyde, respectively. The results of control experiments and several characterization investigations further illustrate that the sacrificial template ZIF-8 plays a key role to disperse well metallic cobalt in the Co0.05/N–C-800 catalyst and an appropriate cobalt content of 0.05 wt % is beneficial for benign and efficient aerobic oxidation of various allylic alcohols and biobased olefins. In addition, the Co0.05/N–C-800 catalyst also exhibited good stability and reusability for recovering and reusing at least si...