Preparation and characterization of nanosized copper (II) oxide embedded in hyper-cross-linked polystyrene: Highly efficient catalyst for aqueous-phase oxidation of aldehydes to carboxylic acids

•Copper (II) oxide nanoparticle was incorporated in crosslinked polystyrene matrix.•The CuO@HPS nanocomposite was fully characterized.•The nanocomposite is utilized as an efficient catalyst for oxidation of aldehydes.•The reaction was done in water as the environmentally benign conditions.•The nanocatalyst can be successfully recycled and reused in 4 reaction runs.

Preparation and catalytic properties of nanosized copper (II) oxide embedded in hypercrosslinked polystyrene (HPS) were investigated in this article. The CuO@HPS nanocomposite was characterized by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), N2-sorption analysis, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis (EDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM analysis showed that the mean diameter of the resulted particles is ~ 4 nm.The nanocomposite was found to be efficient and durable catalyst in the oxidation of aldehydes to the corresponding carboxylic acids in water. The catalyst can be recycled and reused in 4 reaction runs.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide