A facile deprotection of oximes over mixed metal oxides under solvent-free conditions

The catalyst CeO2–ZrO2 was prepared by co-precipitation method. The as-synthesized material was characterized by BET surface area, particle size, EDAX, XRD and FTIR techniques. The catalytic activity was tested for deprotection of oximes of ketones and aldehydes efficiently over CeO2–ZrO2 using tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide (TBHP) as an oxidant under solvent-free protocol. This method is high yielding, clean, safe, cost effective and therefore very suitable for practical organic synthesis. The catalyst tested for this synthetically useful transformation showed considerable level of reusability besides good activity. The reaction conditions were optimized by studying several variables such as choice of metal oxide, catalyst composition and solvent.