Abstract: The liquid-phase selective oxidation of ethylbenzene to acetophenone by oxygen using MnO-4 exchanged Mg-Al-hydrotalcite as catalyst has been investigated in the absence of solvent. The effects of catalyst dosage, reaction temperature and reaction time on the yield of acetophenone and the conversion of ethylbenzene have been studied. Under the following optimized conditions:catalyst 3 g, ethylbenzene 45 mL, reaction temperature 120 ℃, the oxygen flow velocity 100 mL/min, the yield and selectivity of acetophenone can be up to 57.0% and 96.3%, respectively. The catalyst retained high catalytic activity after three recylclings.

Key words: hydrotalcite, ethylbenzene, green oxidation, acetophenone