Short communicationOne-pot synthesis of cyclohexanone oxime from cyclohexanol on a single site multifunctional catalyst: H3PW12O40 incorporated on exfoliated montmorillonite

•One-pot synthesis of cyclohexanone oxime over a single site multifunctional catalyst.•HPW was introduced to cetyltrimethylammonium bromide modified MMT.•HPW highly dispersed over ex-MMT and 20% HPW-ex-MMT with highly hydrophobic surface.•CTAB played a decisive role in the dispersion of HPW on ex-MMT.

Exfoliated montmorillonite (ex-MMT) incorporated with H3PW12O40 (HPW) was prepared by introducing HPW to cetyltrimethylammonium bromide modified MMT. HPW-ex-MMT was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TGA, N2 adsorption-desorption, UV-vis DRS, 31P MAS NMR, contact angle and SEM. CTAB played a decisive role in the introduction and dispersion of HPW on ex-MMT. HPW-ex-MMT exhibited good catalytic performance in one-pot synthesis of oxime from alcohol with aqueous ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. The high catalytic performance is attributed to highly dispersed HPW over ex-MMT and highly hydrophobic surface of 20% HPW-ex-MMT. The catalyst could be recovered and reused several times without significant deactivation of catalytic performance.

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