Iron-Promoted Catalytic Activity of Selenium Endowing the Aerobic Oxidative Cracking Reaction of Alkenes.

Oxidative cracking of alkenes is a significant process in industry. In this work, it was found that catalyzed by Se/Fe via hybrid mechanisms, the carbon-carbon double bond in alkenes can break to produce carbonyls under mild conditions. Since O can be used as a partial oxidant, the employed HO amount can be reduced (90 mol % vs 250 mol %) to avoid the peroxide residues, making the process even safer for operation.