Synthesis and catalytic performance for olefin epoxidation of a novel dioxomolybdenum (VI) (ferrocenylmethyleneamino)alcoholate complex

A novel dioxomolybdenum (VI) complex of (ferrocenylmethyleneamino)alcoholate was easily synthesized via the reaction of MoO2Cl2(THF)2 with N-hydroxyethyl ferrocenylimine ligand [(η5-C5H5)Fe{(η5-C5H4)–CHdouble bond; length as m-dashN–CH2–CH2–OH}], and characterized by FR-IR, 1H NMR, UV–Vis spectroscopy and elemental analysis. In the presence of the catalytic amount of the dioxomolybdenum (VI) complex, good to excellent selectivities of epoxides (77–95%) were obtained for epoxidation of styrene and cyclohexene with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as oxidant in 1,2-dichloroethane at 12 h. Higher initial activity of the complex was observed for the catalyzed styrene epoxidation (451 mol molMo−1 h−1) than that of cyclohexene epoxidation (164 mol molMo−1 h−1) at 1 h. Meanwhile, influences of reaction temperature, solvents, reaction time as well as catalyst amount for olefin epoxidation were also investigated.