A highly efficient dioxo(mu-oxo)molybdenum(VI) dimer catalyst for olefin epoxidation.
The oxo-bridged dimer [Mo(2)O(4)(mu(2)-O)Cl(2)(pzH)(4)] (1; pzH = pyrazole) exhibits unusually high activity in the liquid-phase catalytic epoxidation of the cyclic olefins cyclooctene and (R)-(+)-limonene under mild conditions and in the absence of additional organic solvents, using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as the oxidant. The complex is stable under the reaction conditions and can be used in further catalytic runs without significant loss of performance. An X-ray crystallographic investigation reveals that 1 has an unprecedented and extremely rare all-cis configuration at each of the MoO(2)-(mu(2)-O)Cl(pzH)(2) cores, which can be understood by considering supramolecular contacts and geometric factors.
Pereira
Cláudia C L
CC
Department of Chemistry, CICECO, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
Balula
Salete S
SS
Paz
Filipe A Almeida
FA
Valente
Anabela A
AA
Pillinger
Martyn
M
Klinowski
Jacek
J
Gonçalves
Isabel S
IS