Solvent-Free Environmentally Benign Approach for the Selective Olefin Epoxidation Catalyzed by Mn(III)-Immobilized Mesoporous Nanoarchitectonics.

Abstract

Immobilization of transition metal complexes at the surface of 2D-hexagonal functionalized SBA-15 material is one of the promising strategies in designing an efficient catalytic system for the olefin epoxidation reaction. Here we have immobilized Mn(III) on the Schiff-base anchore 2D-hexagonally ordered functionalised mesoporous SBA-15 material. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), N₂-sorption and high resolution transmission electron microscopic (HRTEM) studies of the resulting SBA-15-SB-Mn material suggested 2D-hexagonally ordered porous nanostructure and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis suggested the presence of surface bound Mn(III) species in this nanomaterial. This mesoporous material showed excellent performance in the selective catalytic oxidation of various alkenes to the corresponding epoxides in the presence of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP, 70% aqueous solution) as oxidant under solvent-free mild reaction conditions together with high recycling efficiency.