Novel micelle template silica supported copper Schiff base catalysts

The discovery of Mobil Composite of Matter (MCM) has led to a rapid research on a variety of regular Micelle Templated Silica (MTS) which are promising in catalysis due to their easily controlled and well-defined pore sizes. Numerous examples of catalysts supported on the MTS are available. To date, however, there is limited information on the immobilization of copper (II) Schiff base on MTS materials. Copper (II) Schiff base catalysts have been successfully anchored on the MTS by using both stepwise and grafting approaches. The catalysts showed excellent catalytic efficiency with turnover number of about 5000 in the epoxidation of norbornene and of about 1000 in the oxidation of maleic acid. It is evident from the results that, MTS is a suitable support for the immobilization of copper Schiff-base catalysts. The resulting catalysts are active and reusable in the epoxidation of higher alkenes and in the oxidation of maleic acid at room temperature. The results obtained in this study show that, the type of template used has tremendous effect on the performance of the catalyst, therefore, much study on the suitability of various renewable natural products including oils from different trees is recommended.