Efficient Epoxidation of Olefins with >=99% Selectivity and Use of Hydrogen Peroxide

Kamata, Keigo
Yonehara, Koji
Sumida, Yasutaka
Yamaguchi, Kazuya
Hikichi, Shiro
Mizuno, Noritaka

¹Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, 7–3–1 Hongo, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113–8656, Japan. ²Strategic Technology Research, Nippon Shokubai, 5–8 Nishi Otabi-cho, Suita, Osaka 564–8512, Japan.
^*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]
Supporting Online Material: http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com/sp-3.17.0a/ovidweb.cgi?&S=BEFDFPBOAJDDLLDDNCJKEAMCJNNPAA00&WebLinkReturn=Full+Text%3dL%7cS.sh.20605_1447304906_158.20605_1447304906_170.20605_1447304906_178.20605_1447304906_180.20605_1447304906_183.20605_1447304906_186.20605_1447304906_203.20605_1447304906_209.20605_1447304906_215.20605_1447304906_221.20605_1447304906_227.20605_1447304906_233.20605_1447304906_239.20605_1447304906_251.20605_1447304906_263.20605_1447304906_275.20605_1447304906_287.20605_1447304906_299.20605_1447304906_311.20605_1447304906_323.20605_1447304906_335.20605_1447304906_348.20605_1447304906_349.20605_1447304906_362.20605_1447304906_385.20605_1447304906_397.20605_1447304906_415.20605_1447304906_433.20605_1447304906_445.20605_1447304906_457.20605_1447304906_469.20605_1447304906_474%7c0%7c00007529–200305090–00018&Full+Text+External+Link=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sciencemag.org%2fcgi%2fcontent%2ffull%2f300%2f5621%2f964%2fDC1; Materials and Methods; SOM Text; References and Notes
7 February 2003; accepted 10 April 2003

Science 300(5621):p 964-966, May 9, 2003.

Epoxides are an important class of industrial chemicals that have been used as chemical intermediates. Catalytic epoxidation of olefins affords an interesting production technology. We found a widely usable green route to the production of epoxides: A silicotungstate compound, [γ-SiW₁₀O₃₄(H₂O)₂]^4-, is synthesized by protonation of a divacant, lacunary, Keggin-type polyoxometalate of [γ-SiW₁₀O₃₆]^8- and exhibits high catalytic performance for the epoxidation of various olefins, including propylene, with a hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) oxidant at 305 kelvin. The effectiveness of this catalyst is evidenced by >=99% selectivity to epoxide, >=99% efficiency of H₂O₂ utilization, high stereospecificity, and easy recovery of the catalyst from the homogeneous reaction mixture.