A water-soluble and "self-assembled" polyoxometalate as a recyclable catalyst for oxidation of alcohols in water with hydrogen peroxide

We have demonstrated that a simply prepared water-soluble polyoxometalate, Na12[WZnZn2(H2O)2(ZnW9O34)2], synthesized from readily available zinc and tungsten salts in the presence of nitric acid, is an effective catalyst for selective alcohol oxidation with hydrogen peroxide in biphasic (water-alcohol) reaction media. Experiments have shown that the "self-assembled" catalyst in its mother liquor was as active as the isolated catalyst. The aqueous catalyst solution is easily separated from the water-insoluble products and can be recycled without loss in activity or selectivity.