Visible Light-Driven Sandwich-like g-C3N4-Catalyzed Oxidation to Produce Cumene Hydroperoxide

Abstract

Cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) is an important intermediate for the production of phenol, acetone, propylene oxide, and other raw materials in the petrochemical industry. However, due to the high reaction temperature and pressure, the current process for the industrial production of CHP has problems of potential safety hazards and high energy consumption. In this work, carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with a unique sandwich structure was discovered as a photocatalyst. It efficiently activates molecular oxygen in the air, oxidizes cumene (CM) to prepare CHP, and realizes high atom economy transformation at room temperature, atmospheric pressure, and solvent-free conditions. The continuous flow strategy was adopted to improve the gas–liquid mass transfer efficiency and reduce the phenomenon of back-mixing, thereby reducing the decomposition of the products and improving the product selectivity. The conversion rate was the same as that of the batch reaction, reaching 23%. The selectivity of the product CHP increased from 82 to 92%, and the reaction residence time was shortened from 10 h to 70 min. The catalysts have the advantages of high efficiency, easy availability, environmentally friendly, etc., and are recyclable and stable. This work provides a new strategy for establishing green, sustainable, clean, and efficient methods for the preparation of peroxides.