| Abstract |
MoO2 nanoparticles with tremella-like morphology have been synthesized and characterized. Characterization by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron micrographs (TEM) microscopy made possible to estimate that the nanosheets have ca. 12 nm and aggregate to form tremella-like structures. The resulting MoO2 nanoparticles were used as catalyst for epoxidation of several olefins. The use of tert-butylhydroperoxide (tbhp), H2O2 and cumenehydroperoxide (chp) as oxygen sources was screened under different reaction conditions, namely, solvent and temperature. The results from the catalytic experiments show that this catalyst was very efficient leading to very high conversion and product selectivity levels. In addition, the use of oxidant:olefin ratios close to 1 show that this catalyst is very efficient conducting olefin epoxidation. Further details are discussed in the work. The catalyst showed overall excellent performance with tbhp. When using H2O2, the catalyst showed good activity, which is very relevant as well. All these achievements contribute with a step forward in the development of more environmentally friendly processes. |
