Nanomagnet-Bound Imidazole as a Heterogeneous Axial Ligand for MnIII(salophen)Cl: An Efficient, Recoverable and Recyclable Catalyst for Epoxidation of Alkenes with Sodium Periodate

Efficient alkene epoxidation with sodium periodate catalyzed by manganese(III) salophen supported on nanomagnetic materials is reported. First, the iron nanomagnets were silica coated, functionalized with imidazole and then manganese salophen was successfully bonded to their surface. The catalyst, [Mn^III(salophen)Cl]@SiIm-Fe, was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR and UV/Vis spectroscopic techniques, SEM and ICP. The [Mn^III(salophen)Cl]@SiIm-Fe was used for alkene epoxidation with sodium periodate at room temperature. Different aromatic and aliphatic terminal alkenes were epoxidized efficiently using sodium periodate as an oxidant. The effect of reaction parameters such as solvent and oxidant in the epoxidation of cis-cyclooctene was investigated. This new heterogenized epoxidation catalyst is easily recovered with a magnet and showed no appreciable loss of activity even after four consecutive runs.