Investigation of the catalytic behavior of a Cu coordination polymer capped polyoxometalate as an oxidation catalyst

A multifunctional organic-inorganic hybrid based on a Cu coordination polymer capped polyoxometalate (H3PMo12O40) designated as compound 1 with [Cu-I(4,4'-bipy)](3)[PMo (10) (VI) Mo (2) (V) O-40{Cu-II(2,2'-bipy)}] formula was prepared using CuCl2 center dot 2H(2)O, 4,4'-bipy, 2,2'-bipy and H3PMo12O4 in water under hydrothemal conditions. The prepared compound 1 was characterized by FTIR, XRD and chemical analysis techniques. It was found that the compound successfully catalyzes the epoxidation of various alkenes such as diphenyl ethylene, trans-stilbene, cyclohexene, norbornene, styrene and cyclooctene and oxidation of alkanes such as fluorene, adamantane, diphenylmethane, cyclohexane and cyclooctane, in acetonitrile with 20-99 % conversion and 53-100 % selectivity with tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant under optimized condition. This heterogeneous catalyst could be easily recovered and reused after reaction without loss of activity.