Epoxidation of alkenes (including terpenes) catalyzed by Al (NO3)3 and Ga (NO3)3

• Grant number: 13/12805-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Dalmo Mandelli
• Grantee: Andressa Vidal Muller
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In the past decades, the oxidation of organic compounds has attracted many studies, this being one of the most attractive areas of modern chemistry. This type of reaction leads to obtaining products with wide application in the pharmaceutical, plastics, and fragrances industry, such as alcohols, ketones, and epoxides. Therefore, various studies have been conducted to develop new active and selective catalysts which also have relatively low toxicity and cost, in order to achieve procedures that lead to an increasingly smaller amount of reaction by-products and residues within the context of Green Chemistry and providing a higher income reaction. Thus, the preferred oxidant for these processes is molecular oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. One area that has gained more importance in modern literature is the use of catalysts that have no transition metals in the oxidation of organic compounds. Recently it was shown that catalysts based on Al2O3 and Ga2O3 are active in the epoxidation of alkenes. In this project, we will study the oxidation of alkenes (including terpenes) with H2O2 by using Al (NO3)3 and Ga(NO3)3 as catalysts, homogeneous systems which favor studies on the mechanism of the reaction. The effect of adding nitrogen compounds and acids as co-catalysts will also be assessed. The activity of the catalysts in the epoxidation of electron-deficient olefins will be assessed using citral and 1-octene as substrates. (AU)