Cu and Fe Catalysts\nBased on Porous Aromatic Frameworks\nfor Oxidation of Alkylaromatics

In this paper, we present a new simple approach to synthesizing\ncatalysts for the oxidation of alkylaromatics based on the immobilization\nof metal ions by conventional ion exchange. By sulfation of high-stable\nporous polymers, porous aromatic framework (PAFs), we prepared the\nPAF-30-SO<sub>3</sub>H carrier, which was used for immobilization\nof Cu(II) and Fe(III) ions. The resulting Cu/PAF-30-SO<sub>3</sub>H and Fe/PAF-30-SO<sub>3</sub>H catalysts were successfully applied\nfor the oxidation of ethylbenzene, 3-ethyltoluene, <i>n</i>-propylbenzene, Indane, and tetralin to the corresponding α-ketones.\nThe catalysts were stable against metal leaching and showed high activity\nin alkylaromatics oxidation: The conversion of substrates reached\n80% in 24 h at 80 °C, and did not decrease during for at least\n5 cycles. The performance of catalysts was also compared with Cu/PAF-30-MEA\nand Fe/PAF-30-MEA catalysts, synthesized from PAF-30-MEA carrier,\nwhich structure was modified with monoethanolamine-based chelating\ngroups. The structure of the materials and catalysts was established\nusing advanced analytical techniques: low temperature N<sub>2</sub> adsorption, elemental analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, solid state NMR,\nXPS, TEM, and EDX mapping.