eng Oriental Scientific Publishing Company Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 0973-1245 2015-12-25 12 3 2421 2426 10.13005/bbra/1919 3673 article Abbas Zarei 1 Amin Ebadi 1 Department of Chemistry, Kazerun Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kazerun, Iran Copper oxide supported on γ-alumina nanoparticles were prepared and were well characterized. In this study catalytic activities of the supported copper oxide for oxidation of cyclohexene to 2-cyclohexene-1-ol, 2-cyclohexene-1-one and cyclohexene oxide with TBHP and H₂O₂ as the oxidant, in the liquid phase were considered. For the CuO/γ-alumina nanocomposites, acetonitrile as the solvent was employed. The products of the catalysis are 2-cyclohexene-1-ol, 2-cyclohexene-1-one and cyclohexene oxide. The conversion percent of cyclohexene depended on oxidant, solvent and the catalyst. TBHP was found to be better oxidant than H₂O₂ since minimal destruction of the catalyst and higher conversion of cyclohexene were observed when this oxidant was employed. Under these reaction conditions, the order of catalytic activities is as follows: 10%CuO/γ-alumina > 15%CuO/γ-alumina > 5%CuO/γ-alumina. When the reaction was catalyzed with γ-alumina without any CuO, the reaction yield and conversion were reduced considerably compared to those of supported γ-alumina. With 10% CuO supported on γ-alumina nanoparticles and under our experimental conditions, the conversion percent of cyclohexene is 84.9%. https://www.biotech-asia.org/vol12no3/property-and-performance-of-cuo%ce%b3-alumina-nanocomposites-for-the-oxidation-of-volatile-organic-compounds/ Oxidation; γ-Alumina Nanoparticles; Supported; CuO; Cyclohexene