Sustainable Catalytic Protocols for the Solvent Free Epoxidation and (anti)-Dihydroxylation of the Alkene Bonds of Biorenewable Terpene Feedstocks Using H2O2 as Oxidant

Steven Bull, William Cunningham, Joshua Tibbetts, Marc Hutchby, Katarzyna A. Smug, Matthew Davidson, Ulrich Hintermair, Pawel Plucinski

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34 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

A tungsten-based polyoxometalate catalyst employing aqueous H2O2 as a benign oxidant has been used for the solvent free catalytic epoxidation of the trisubstituted alkene bonds of a wide range of biorenewable terpene substrates. This epoxidation protocol has been scaled up to produce limonene oxide, 3-carene oxide and α-pinene oxide on a multigram scale, with the catalyst being recycled three times to produce 3-carene oxide. Epoxidation of the less reactive disubstituted alkene bonds of terpene substrates could be achieved by carrying out catalytic epoxidation reactions at 50 °C. Methods have been developed that enable direct epoxidation of untreated crude sulfate turpentine to afford 3-carene oxide, α-pinene oxide and β-pinene oxide. Treatment of crude epoxide products (no work-up) with a heterogeneous acid catalyst (Amberlyst-15) results in clean epoxide hydrolysis to afford their corresponding terpene-anti-diols in good yields.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)513-524
Number of pages12
JournalGreen Chemistry
Volume22
Issue number2
Early online date26 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jan 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Pollution

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