Liquid-phase oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol by vanadium catalysts supported on MCM-41

1,1′-Bi-2-naphthol was produced by the liquid-phase oxidative coupling reaction of 2-naphthol using vanadium impregnated MCM-41 (V/MCM-41) catalyst, of which active vanadium sites were suggested to be the tetrahedral V5+ species based on the correlation between the yield of 1,1′-bi-2-naphthol and the intensity of the tetrahedral V5+ species estimated by the diffuse reflectance (DR) spectra of the V/MCM-41 catalysts.