A new application of clay-supported vanadium oxide catalyst to selective hydroxylation of benzene to phenol

The highly selective direct hydroxylation of benzene with hydrogen peroxide to phenol was observed on a clay-supported vanadium oxide catalyst. Under mild reaction conditions at 313 K, high selectivity to phenol of 94% was realized on the clay-supported vanadium oxide catalyst at 14% conversion of benzene, comparable with the well-known TS-1 catalyst. On the other hand, vanadium on other supports and other metals on the clay support gave inferior catalytic performances. V–O–Al and V–O–Si bridges in the catalyst may be responsible for the reaction.