A Water-Soluble and “Self-Assembled” Polyoxometalate as a Recyclable Catalyst for Oxidation of Alcohols in Water with Hydrogen Peroxide

We have demonstrated that a simply prepared water-soluble polyoxometalate, Na12[WZnZn2(H2O)2(ZnW9O34)2], synthesized from readily available zinc and tungsten salts in the presence of nitric acid, is an effective catalyst for selective alcohol oxidation with hydrogen peroxide in biphasic (water-alcohol) reaction media. Experiments have shown that the "self-assembled" catalyst in its mother liquor was as active as the isolated catalyst. The aqueous catalyst solution is easily separated from the water-insoluble products and can be recycled without loss in activity or selectivity.