Ceria nanocatalyst-supported oxidative organic transformations of aromatic alcohols and p-nitrotoluene

Hydrothermally derived nanocubes of CeO 2 (10 nm) were explored as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst in the partial oxidation of aromatic alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes and aerobic oxidation of p -nitrotoluene to p -nitrobenzoic acid. The CeO 2 nanocatalyst was characterized by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. TEM/high-resolution TEM micrographs reveal a morphology of mostly cubic nanostructures with exposed highly active {100} and {110} facets. The surface area of nanoceria was determined by BET analysis and found to be 33.8 m 2 g −1 . To demonstrate the universality of the catalytic system, the selective oxidation of different substrates of benzylic alcohol and complete oxidation of p -nitrotoluene was investigated under mild conditions. Absolute selectivity towards their respective aldehydes was found to be 99.50% (benzaldehyde), 90.18% ( p -chlorobenzaldehyde), 99.71% ( p -nitrobenzaldehyde), 98.10% ( p -fluorobenzaldehyde), 94.66% ( p -anisaldehyde) and 86.14% (cinnamaldehyde). Moreover, the catalytic oxidative transformation of nitrotoluene results in 100% conversion with 99.29% selectivity towards nitrobenzoic acid.