Unmatched efficiency and selectivity in the epoxidation of olefins with oxo-diperoxomolybdenum(VI) complexes as catalysts and hydrogen peroxide as terminal oxidant

Abstract A great variety of olefinic substrates having aromatic, carbocyclic and aliphatic olefins are effectively and selectively oxidized with oxygen-rich molybdenum(VI) complexes, namely [MoO(O 2 ) 2 ·2QOH] 1 , [MoO(O 2 )(QO) 2 ] 2 , [Mo(O) 2 (QO) 2 ] 3 , [PPh 4 ][MoO(O 2 ) 2 (QO)] 4 , [PPh 4 ][Mo(O) 2 (O 2 )(QO)] 5 and [PPh 4 ][Mo(O) 3 (QO)] 6 (QOH = 8-quinolinol) as catalyst, NaHCO 3 as co-catalyst and H 2 O 2 as the terminal oxidant, at room temperature. Catalysts 1 and 4 show unmatched yield, turnover number (TON) and turnover frequency (TOF), and hence shortest reaction time.