Heterogenisation of CpMo(CO)3Cl on mesoporous materials and its application as olefin epoxidation catalyst

Abstract

CpMo(CO)₃Cl reacts with the hydroxyl (Si–OH or Si–OH–Al) functionalities of mesoporous molecular sieves such as MCM-41, MCM-48 and its aluminium analogues during grafting. XRD, N₂ adsorption–desorption, BET surface area analysis and TEM show the resulting samples as being well ordered and maintaining a uniform pore size. FT-IR spectra, elemental analysis, ¹³C and ²⁹Si CP MAS NMR spectra confirm the successful grafting. In the presence of excess TBHP the materials show high activity in cyclooctene epoxidation and good stability.