Aerobic Mukaiyama-type oxidation of essential oil of ortanic tangor from Reunion Island: an applied example of valorization on terpenes using salophen complexes

Abstract

The work described in this comprehensive study is based on valorising essential oils from citrus originated from Réunion Island, ortanic tangor, using Mukaiyama-type aerobic oxidation of terpenes, in particular limonene. This innovative work combines extraction, fractionation and catalytic oxidation to transform an agricultural residue into valuable compounds, while respecting the principles of green chemistry. The research highlights the use of metal salophen complexes based on cheap and abundant transition metals to achieve mild epoxidation at room temperature. In addition, a theoretical study using DFT provided a better understanding of the mechanism of this reaction for the best catalyst (molybdenum containing), suggesting that the activator could be a molybdenum oxo-cis-{Mo VI O 2 } species resulting from the evolution of the initial catalyst.