Metal-Organic Frameworks Decorated Cu₂O Heterogeneous Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Styrene

The selective oxidation of styrene with highly efficient, environmentally benign, and cost-effective catalysts are of great importance for sustainable chemical processes. Here, we develop an in situ self-assembly strategy to decorate Cu-based metal-organic framework (MOF) Cu-BDC-NH2 nanocrystals on Cu2O octahedra to construct a series of Cu2O@Cu-BDC-NH2 catalysts for selective oxidation of styrene. Using H2O2 as green oxidants, the optimized sample of Cu2O@Cu-BDC-NH2-8h could achieve 85% styrene conversion with 76% selectivity of benzaldehyde under a mild condition of 40 °C. The high performance of the as-prepared heterogeneous catalysts was attributed to the well-designed Cu+/Cu2+ interface between Cu2O and Cu-BDC-NH2 as well as the porous MOF shells composed of the uniformly dispersed Cu-BDC-NH2 nanocrystals. The alkaline properties of Cu2O and the –NH2 modification of MOFs enable the reaction to be carried out in a base-free condition, which simplifies the separation process and makes the catalytic system more environmentally friendly. Besides the Cu2O octahedra (od-Cu2O), the Cu2O cuboctahedrons (cod-Cu2O) were synthesized by adjusting the added polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and the obtained cod-Cu2O@Cu-BDC-NH2 composite also showed good catalytic performance. This work provides a useful strategy for developing highly efficient and environmentally benign heterogeneous catalysts for the selective oxidation of styrene

Chromatographic Separation of Aromatic Amine Isomers: A Solved Issue by a New Amphiphilic Pillar[6]arene Stationary Phase

In this work, the fabrication, synthesis, and characterization of a new stationary phase based on an amphiphilic pillar[6]arene (P6A-C10-2NH2) for gas chromatographic analyses are reported. The gas chromatography (GC) column prepared with P6A-C10-2NH2 stationary phase exhibited a medium polarity, an efficiency of 3219 plates/m, and unmatched resolving capabilities toward chloroaniline, bromoaniline, iodoaniline, and toluidine isomers. Furthermore, the P6A-C10-2NH2 column showed excellent repeatability with maximum relative standard deviations equal to 0.02, 0.07, and 2.56% for run-to-run, day-to-day, and column-to-column, respectively, demonstrating a great potential as a new stationary phase in separation science