Study on the Epoxidation of α,β-Unsaturated Ketones Catalyzed by MCM-41 Supported Schiff Base

The novel mesoporous molecular sieves MCM-41 supported Schiff base was prepared by MCM-41 and Schiff base, which was synthesized by 3-chloropropyltriethoxysilane, 1,2-cyclohexanediamine with 2-phenyl-2H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carbaldehyde. The catalyst was characterized by methods of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The epoxidation of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones catalyzed by MCM-41 supported Schiff base was studied in the presence of H2O2. The reaction conditions such as metal salts, different solvents, reaction temperature, the catalyst amount, and reaction, time were investigated. It was found that the epoxidation of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones was easily obtained in excellent yields (up to 99%) using acetonitrile as the solvent at room temperature in short time. Especially, the heterogeneous catalyst can be reused four times without significant loss of its catalytic activity.