Preparation of Copper Phosphate from Naturally Occurring Phytic Acid as an Advanced Catalyst for Oxidation of Aromatic Benzyl Compounds

Both direct oxidation of aromatic benzyl compounds to aromatic ketones and utilization of naturally occurring chemicals to prepare functional catalysts are highly attractive. Herein, copper phosphate was successfully synthesized by using naturally occurring phytic acid as the phosphorus source. The obtained copper phosphate showed excellent performance for the direct oxidation of aromatic benzyl compounds to aromatic ketones with N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) as the radical promoter using O2 as the oxidant. Additionally, the synthesized copper phosphate was stable in the reaction system and could be used at least four cycles without considerable decrease in catalytic performance. This work provides a new way to prepare efficient heterogeneous catalysts using naturally occurring chemicals for the highly efficient oxidation of aromatic benzyl compounds to aromatic ketones.