Alumina-catalyzed alkene epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide Original Research Article

Inexpensive Al2O3 can be used as a simple catalyst for alkene epoxidation, using anhydrous hydrogen peroxide as oxidant. This system is active and selective in the epoxidation of several alkenes. Besides the epoxidation of the terpenes limonene and α-pinene, we studied the epoxidation of cyclohexene and cyclooctene, as well as α-olefins, such as 1-octene and 1-decene. Productivities of up to 4.3 g products per gram catalyst were obtained and the catalyst was recycled without significant loss of activity.