Direct synthesis of phenol from benzene catalyzed by multi-V-POMs complex

A novel catalyst, [Mo 2 V 2 O 9 (bpy) 6 ][PMo 11 VO 40 ], was synthesized by the self-assembling of [PMo 11 VO 40 ] 4− and [Mo 2 V 2 O 9 (bpy) 6 ] 4+ unit and characterized by elemental analyses, TG, IR, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray single crystal diffraction. [Mo 2 V 2 O 9 (bpy) 6 ][PMo 11 VO 40 ] with multi-isolated active sites showed good catalytic activities for hydroxylation of benzene to phenol . A high yield of phenol (25.5%) with selectivity to phenol of 90.7% was obtained using H 2 O 2 as oxidant. The catalyst can be recycled for 5 times while its structure was unchanged and its catalytic activity was maintained.