Highly selective oxidation of amines to imines by Mn2O3 catalyst under eco-friendly conditions

Abstract Enhancing the selectivity of imines for the oxidative self-coupling of primary amines was found to be challenging in the heterogeneous catalysis. Three different manganese oxides (M-3, M-4, M-5) were synthesized by controlling the calcination temperature using a simple template-free oxalate route. The prepared manganese oxides were systematically characterized using XRD, N2 sorption, SEM, TEM, XPS, H2-TPR techniques. M-4 gave 96.2% selectivity of imine at 100% conversion of benzylamine, which was far more superior than other existing protocols. Mn3+/Mn4+ ratio was found to affect the selectivity of the imines. The probable reaction pathway for amines oxidation catalyzed by manganese oxides was proposed for the first time.