The Epoxidation of C5–C10 Alkenes With Hydrogen Peroxide Catalysed by Mo Compounds in Two-phase Solvents

Abstract

The epoxidation of terminal alkenes such as 1-heptene, 1-octene, 1-decene, styrene (1), α-methylstyrene, and allyl chloride, and inner alkenes such as α-pinene, cyclopentene, cyclohexene (2) and cyclooctene was carried out with aqueous 60% hydrogen peroxide in the presence of molybdenum blue (Mob)-bis(tributyltin) oxide (3) using a two-phase solvent of chloroform-water at 25 °C. All these olefins gave epoxides in 98 to 48% yields. In the cases of 1 and 2, the addition of ammonia greatly increased the yields of epoxides; the yield reached 78% and 83%, respectively, after 7 h. Various kinds of amines and organotin compounds were examined as co-catalysts and their effects were discussed.