Au-TUD-1: A new catalyst for aerobic oxidation of cyclohexene

• Au-TUD-1 was synthetized for the first time by a one-pot synthesis procedure.
• Au-TUD-1 is an active, stable and reusable catalyst for cyclohexene oxidation.
• Sintering was not observed after several times of use.

A new, gold-containing the 3-D amorphous mesoporous TUD-1 with different Si/Au ratios (100 and 200) was synthesized by one-step hydrothermal synthesis technique by using triethanolamine as a template. Two samples (denoted as Au-TUD-1) were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high-resolution transition electron microscopy (HR-TEM), nitrogen physisorption and elemental analysis. The obtained characterization data confirm the formation of Au nanoparticles inside the mesopores of TUD-1 matrix. The catalytic activity of Au-TUD-1 was evaluated in the aerobic oxidation of cyclohexene at 343 K in the presence of TBHP as an initiator. The results showed that Au-TUD-1 is an active, stable and reusable catalyst; moreover, the small nanoparticles (i.e. 2–4 nm) are more catalytically efficient than the bigger nanoparticles of 6–8 nm size.

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