Metal-catalyzed Hydrogen Peroxide Oxidation for Synthesis of Value-added Chemicals

Hydrogen peroxide is an ideal oxidant for industrial processes that produce useful chemicals such as propylene oxide, oxime and catechol because this environmentally benign oxidant has excellent oxygen atom efficiency and low cost. However, hydrogen peroxide is a weak oxidant with low selectivity, so application of hydrogen peroxide oxidation technology to the synthesis of complex organic compounds containing various functional groups remains challenging. We have found that various methods of hydrogen peroxide oxidation of olefins can be used to synthesize a wide range of fine chemicals. Here we report our recent investigations of a practical synthetic method that uses common metals and reusable catalysts to expand our previous catalytic system using tungsten based catalysts using three components. For example, our new method employs high-speed styrene oxide synthesis using an iron picolinate catalyst, bulky sulfide oxidation employing a reusable titanosilicate zeolite catalyst, and high-conversion synthesis of nitroxide radical polymer. The desired compounds are formed in over 90 % selectivity despite their complex structures, under safe reaction conditions and with the high efficiency of hydrogen peroxide.