Preparation of Pt@Fe2O3 nanowires and their catalysis of selective oxidation of olefins and alcohols

Iron oxide coated platinum nanowires (Pt@Fe(2)O(3)NWs) with a diameter of 2.8 nm have been prepared by the oxygen oxidation of FePt NWs in oleylamine. These "cable"-like NWs were characterised by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure analysis. These Pt@Fe(2)O(3) NWs were used as "non-support" heterogeneous catalysts in oxidation of olefins and alcohols. The results revealed that it is an active and highly selective catalyst. Styrene derivatives were tested with molecular oxygen as the sole oxidant, with benzaldehyde successfully obtained from styrene in an absolute yield of 31%, whereas the use of tert-butyl hydroperoxide as the sole oxidant in the oxidation of alcohols led to yields of more than 80% of the corresponding ketone or aldehyde. This unsupported catalyst was found to be more active (TOF=96.5 h(-1)) than other reported Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticle catalysts and could be recycled multiple times without any notable decrease in activity. Our findings will extend the use of such nanomaterial catalysts to new catalytic systems.