Epoxidation of Natural Limonene over the Ti-MCM-41 Catalyst with 60 Wt.% Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

Limonene belongs to the group of the monoterpenes, which are a raw material for the production of very valuable compounds. On an industrial scale limonene is obtained from orange peels – biomass, which comes from the fruit juice industry. Thus, limonene is an easily available compound and also relatively cheap because it comes from renewable sources. This paper presents the process of limonene epoxidation using the titanium-silicate catalyst Ti-MCM-41 and 60 wt% hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant and methanol as a solvent. The catalytic activity of this mesoporous material was tested at the selected temperatures (110-140°C) and for the reaction time amounted to 6h. In this work we present different ways of the transformation of limonene, not only to 1,2-epoxylimonene, but also to carvone, carveol and perillyl alcohol, which are also very valuable oxygenated derivatives of limonene.