Carbon supported copper catalyst prepared in situ by one-pot pyrolysis of Bougainvillea glabra: An efficient and stable catalyst for selective oxidation of cyclohexane

So far, the poor stability of Cu2O is still the major challenge in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, Bougainvillea glabra (B. glabra) derived carbon supported copper composite (Cu2O/BGC) was synthesized in situ by one-pot pyrolysis method. In the synthetic strategy, B. glabra was used as reductant and carbon source simultaneously, and copper nitrate as copper precursor. Cu2O/BGC exhibited a significant enhancement in both catalytic activity and stability for cyclohexane oxidation with tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant under solvent-free condition. Cu2O/BGC with a Cu/C ratio of 0.8 calcined at 800 °C showed the highest catalytic cyclohexane conversion efficiency (77.1%) and cyclohexanone selectivity (68.5%). Its turnover number (TON) is 12.2- and 1.3-fold compared to pure Cu2O and Cu2O/BGC prepared by deposition-reduction method, respectively. Hot filtration experiment confirmed that the sample was a heterogeneous catalyst which could be reused five times without losing its activity.