Polystyrenic porphyrins as catalysts for alkane oxidation

Abstract

Abstract We report herein the catalytic effect of metalloporphyrins (MnP-PS, CoP-PS, ZnP-PS) covalently bonded with one or four arms of polystyrene. These metalloporphyrins were employed as active catalysts for oxidation of ethylbenzene in the presence of freshly prepared O2. Our results show that one-arm polystyrenic porphyrins demonstrate enhanced catalytic efficiency, with better yield as compared with four-arm polystyrenic porphyrins. In addition, the catalytic efficiencies of the studied metalloporphyrins, calculated from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, were found to be dependent on the central metal in the order Mn > Co > Zn. We also found that these catalysts have advantages of higher stability, facile separation, and good recyclability with comparable efficiencies.