Se and P dual doped carbon for highly selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol

Metal-free heterogeneous oxidation of alcohols to corresponding aldehydes is a typical green selective oxidation reaction. Rational designing of the metal-free catalyst is highly desired. In the present work, P and Se dual doped carbon catalyst was prepared to achieve a high catalytic efficiency for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohols to benzaldehyde. The doped P and Se exhibited a synergistic effect for enhancing the titled catalytic performance. The doped P can donate electrons to the adjacent atoms while the doped Se can accept electrons from the adjacent atoms. These interactions accelerated the electron transfer on the carbon surface and consequently enhanced the catalytic activity. Kinetic study revealed that the selectivity was kinetically improved by the doped heteroatoms. The oxidation mechanism investigation indicated that both radical and nonradical routes were involved in the titled reaction. In addition, the dual doped carbon catalyst also showed a good catalytic performance for the various benzyl alcohol derivatives. These finding suggest that the dual doped atoms are promising strategy to improve the catalytic activity and selectivity of the carbon-based metal-free catalysts for the aerobic selective oxidation reactions.