| Abstract: | A novel approach to the epoxidation of unsaturated rubbers in a reactive processing equipment is presented for the first time in this paper. The effects of the structures of unsaturated rubbers and catalysts on the epoxidation reaction were examined. The experimental results show that the reactivity of three typical unsaturated rubbers follows the decreasing order: ethylene‐propylene‐diene rubber (EPDM) > butadiene rubber (BR) > styrene‐butadiene rubber (SBR). No obvious further oxidation side reaction occurs during the epoxidation of EPDM and BR, while SBR has a significant degradation during reaction. Moreover, investigation of the catalytic system composed of tert‐butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and three different molybdenum compounds reveals that a blue molybdenum compound (Mo‐b), which is the product of the reaction of hydrogen peroxide (30% aqueous solution) with an excess of molybdenum powder, gives the highest catalytic activity and the highest efficiency of TBHP. |
