Amphiphilic poly(ionic liquid)/Wells-Dawson-type phosphovanadomolybdate ionic composites as efficient and recyclable catalysts for the direct hydroxylation of benzene with H2O2

Three novel amphiphilic poly(ionic liquid) (PIL)/Wells-Dawson-type phosphovanadomolybdate (V-POM) ionic composites with tunable oxidative catalytic activity and unique nanostructure were synthesized using carboxylic acid-functionalized PIL and H-7[P2Mo17VO62], H-8[P2Mo16V2O62] and H-9[P2Mo15V3O62] as synthetic units via self-assembly in water. The results of characterization indicated that V-POM anions were finely dispersed in the PIL cation framework, and their structures were well preserved. The three composites are amorphous V-POM salts of PIL cation with a considerable thermal stability, and an open three-dimensional network structure with hierarchical porosity. The as-synthesized composites were found to be efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol with H2O2 in the liquid phase. Under optimum conditions, a phenol yield of 37.3% was achieved with selectivity of 100%. The high catalytic performance could be attributed to the synergistic catalytic effect between V-POM anion and carboxylic acid-functionalized PIL cation framework, and good benzene adsorption and phenol desorption ability of amphiphilic micropores in the structure of the composites. Additionally, these composites exhibited high stability under the reaction conditions and could be easily recovered and reused at least six times without noticeably loss of activity.