Grafting of molecularly ordered mesoporous phenylene-silica with molybdenum carbonyl complexes: Efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the epoxidation of olefins

Abstract

Arenetricarbonyl complexes, or the general formula -C6H 4Mo(CO)3-, were incorporated into crystal-like mesoporous phenylene-silica by liquid-phase deposition of molybdenum hexacarbonyl [Mo(CO)6]. By adjusting the reaction conditions, different molybdenum loadings of 1.5 and 5.9 wt% were obtained, which correspond to 3% and 14% of the phenylene contents. The texture properties of the materials as well as the nature of the surface-fixed complexes were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption, FT-IR, UV-vis and MAS (13C, 29Si) NMR spectroscopy. The derivatized organosilicas were examined as catalyst precursors for the liquid-phase epoxidation of cis-cyclooctene, 1-octene, trans-2-octene and (R)-(+)-limonene at 55°C, using tertbutyl hydroperoxide as the oxidant. For each olefin the corresponding epoxide was the only product detected. In the case of cyclooctene, the intrinsic reaction rates per surface molybdenum atom were similar for both Mo loadings (TOF-1150 mol molMo-1 h-1), suggesting that the resultant materials act as single site epoxidation catalysts. Leaching tests and metal analyses of reaction solutions showed that the catalytic activity stemmed from the immobilized species and not from the leaching of active species into solution. The oxidation of limonene gave limonene oxide as the only product in 95% yield at 3 h, which reveals an outstanding regioselectivity to the epoxidation of the endocyclic double bond. © 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.