β-cyclodextrin functionalized on glass micro-particles: A green catalyst for selective oxidation of toluene to benzaldehyde

Oxidation of toluene is considered an important process which often requires high temperatures and specific conditions along with heavy-metals based catalysts. In this study, we have developed a green catalyst by functionalizing beta-cyclodextrin onto glass micro-particle surfaces. All surfaces were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and applied to catalyze the selective oxidation of toluene into benzaldehyde (82% yield) at room temperature. The catalyst was stable and could be used repeatedly for several cycles without losing efficiency.