Boehmite silica sulfuric acid: as a new acidic material and reusable heterogeneous nanocatalyst for the various organic oxidation reactions

In this research, project boehmite silica sulfuric acid (Boehmite-SSA) has been applied as new acidic porous catalyst for the selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides and oxidative coupling of thiols to corresponding disulfides using hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing agent. The products have been obtained in short reaction times and high yields. Boehmite nanoparticles was prepared, coated by silica and then reacted with chlorosulfuric acid to obtain Boehmite-SSA. This catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, TGA/DTA, XRD, TEM, SEM, EDS and BET techniques. BET curve of boehmite nanoparticles identified as a typical type IV isotherm (definition by IUPAC), which are the characteristics of mesoporous material. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement indicated that boehmite nanoparticles had BET surface area of about 122.8 m²/g. The catalyst was easily separated and reused for the several runs without significant loss of its catalytic efficiency.