A facile and efficient procedure has been developed systematically for the oxidative cleavage of cinna-maldehyde to benzaldehyde by sodium hypochlorite with water as the only solvent in the presence of β-cyclodextrin （abbreviated as β-CD）. Different factors influencing cinnamaldehyde oxidation e.g. reaction temperature, the amount of catalyst and oxidant, have been investigated. The yield of benzaldehyde reaches 76% under the optimum conditions （333 K, 4 h, molar ratio of cinnamaldehyde to β-CD is 1：1）. Furthermore, a feasible reaction mecha-nism including the formation of benzaldehyde and the two main byproducts （phenylacetaldehyde and epoxide of cinnamaldehyde） has been proposed.
Insoluble β-cyclodextrin polymers were prepared from β-cyclodextrin(β-CD) using epichlorohydrin(EPI) as crosslinking agent under basic conditions.The polymers were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared(FTIR),Thermogravimetry(TG),X-ray diffraction(XRD) and TG-FTIR.The results demonstrated that the polym-erization between EPI and β-CD indeed occurred,and a number of CD rings were interconnected to form a three-dimensional network.Moreover,different factors influencing the polymerization,e.g.molar ratio of EPI to β-CD,the concentration of NaOH and reaction temperature,have been investigated.The polymer prepared under the optimal conditions(the molar ratio EPI:β-CD of 44,the NaOH concentration 50% in mass,and the temperature at 65 ℃) showed excellent thermal stability and insolubility in organic solvents or strong acid/base.In addition,the β-cyclodextrin polymers also presented high catalytic activity for aqueous oxidation of benzyl alcohol with hy-pochlorite as oxidant.
