Highly efficient catalytic production of oximes from ketones using in situ-generated H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>.

Lewis, Richard J; Ueura, Kenji; Liu, Xi; Fukuta, Yukimasa; Davies, Thomas E; Morgan, David J; Chen, Liwei; Qi, Jizhen et al. · Science · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The ammoximation of cyclohexanone using preformed hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>) is currently applied commercially to produce cyclohexanone oxime, an important feedstock in nylon-6 production. We demonstrate that by using supported gold-palladium (AuPd) alloyed nanoparticles in conjunction with a titanium silicate-1 (TS-1) catalyst, H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> can be generated in situ as needed, producing cyclohexanone oxime with >95% selectivity, comparable to the current industrial route. The ammoximation of several additional simple ketones is also demonstrated. Our approach eliminates the need to transport and store highly concentrated, stabilized H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, potentially achieving substantial environmental and economic savings. This approach could form the basis of an alternative route to numerous chemical transformations that are currently dependent on a combination of preformed H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and TS-1, while allowing for considerable process intensification.