Zeolite - Catalyzed Solvent - Free Transoximation of  Carbonyl Compounds and Cyclohexanone Oxime

Carbonyl compounds were transformed to oximes by transoximation reaction with HY zeolite under solvent-free condition through reaction-distillation coupling process. First, single factor experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of temperature, feed molar ratio, catalyst loading and vacuum degree on the yield of cyclododecanone oxime (CDOX); Secondly, the Plackett-Burman screening and Box-Behnken response surface methodology were further utilized to deeply optimize the process parameters, and the optimal conditions were obtained, temperature of 90 °C, cyclododecanone (CDON)/ cyclohexanone oxime (CHO) molar ratio of 1.4:1, catalyst loading of 1.6 g, and vacuum degree of 240 mbar. Under these conditions, the yield of CDOX can reach 99.45%, which is similar to the predicted value of 99.76% by response surface methodology. Also, the zeolite with large pore size and Brønsted acidity are essential for good catalytic performance, and the HY-5 show the highest yield of CDOX under reaction-distillation process. The catalyst can be recovered and reused several times. The mechanism was proposed.