Manganese(III) porphyrin supported on multi-wall carbon nanotubes: A highly efficient and reusable biomimetic catalyst for epoxidation of alkenes with sodium periodate

Abstract

In this paper, the biomimetic epoxidation of alkenes catalyzed by tetrakis( p-aminophenyl)porphyrinatomanganese(III) chloride, [Mn(TNH 2PP)Cl], supported on functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes, MWCNT, is reported. The catalyst, [Mn(TNH 2PP)Cl-MWCNT], was used as an efficient and heterogeneous catalyst for epoxidation of alkenes with NaIO 4 at room temperature, in the presence of imidazole as an axial ligand. This new heterogenized catalyst was characterized by elemental analysis, FT IR spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV–Vis spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The biggest advantage of Mn(TNH 2PP)Cl-MWCNT is its high reusability in the oxidation reactions, in which the catalyst was reused several times without significant loss of its catalytic activity.