Nickel(II) complex anchored on MCM-41 for the epoxidation of styrene by oxygen

Abstract

A heterogeneous catalyst, MCM-41-Ni, was synthesized by anchoring a nickel(II) Schiff base complex onto amino-modified MCM-41. The catalyst was characterized by small angle X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption, infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, inductively coupled plasma and C, H, N elemental analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. MCM-41-Ni showed excellent catalytic activity for the epoxidation of styrene with O 2 as oxidant with high styrene conversion (95.2%) and epoxide selectivity (66.7%). The influence of reaction temperature, catalyst amount, solvent, and reaction time was studied. MCM-41-Ni showed good recyclability and can be reused four times. A nickel(II) Schiff base complex functionalized MCM-41 catalyst was used to catalyze epoxidation of styrene using green oxidant molecular oxygen as oxidant with styrene conversion of 95.2% and epoxide selectivity of 66.7%.