Green and efficient synthesis of adipic acid from cyclohexene over recyclable H3PW4O24/PEHA/ZrSBA-15 with platelet morphology

•Green and efficient catalyst for one-step oxidative cleavage of cyclohexene to AA.•H3PW4O24/PEHA/ZrSBA-15 exhibited excellent catalytic performance and recyclability.•Synergy of incorporated Zr-ions and auxiliary PEHA towards improved performance.

Designing a green synthesis system of adipic acid is important to achieve sustainable development of adipic acid-derived industries. A green and efficient synthesis of adipic acid by using one-step oxidative cleavage of cyclohexene over recyclable H3PW4O24/PEHA/ZrSBA-15 is presented in this paper. The synergic effect of Zr-ions modified the acidic framework and auxiliary PEHA molecules toward high dispersion and stabilization of active clusters. These clusters endowed the resulting nanocomposites with unexceptional reusability under employed reaction conditions. Standard characterization techniques, namely, N2 sorption, XRD, FT-IR, TEM, XPS, 1H-NMR, and ICP-AES, were performed to establish the coordinated internal ordered framework of the nanocomposite with platelet morphology. The superiority of layer-by-layer deposition strategy has been proved accordingly. Detailed reaction parameters were screened for the optimization of a catalytic system. Compared with the properties of the catalyst H3PW12O40/PEHA/ZrSBA-15, which is prepared through identical pathways, the properties of the reactive PW4 clusters with strengthened stabilization are favorable. Therefore, excellent catalytic performance of adipic acid yield (∼90.9%) was observed along with efficient recyclability during five reaction cycles.

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