This paper presents the method of limonene epoxidation over Ti-MCM-41 and Ti-MWW catalysts in the presence of t-butyl hydroperoxide as an oxidant. Natural limonene used in the epoxidation process was obtained via steam distillation (97% purity). The purpose of the research was to obtain the highest yield of 1,2epoxylimonene, but the performed studies showed that the process of limonene epoxidation is more complex because in addition to epoxidation products (1,2epoxylimonene and its diol which were formed usually in small amount) also the following oxygenated derivatives of limonene are formed: carvone, carveol, and perillyl alcohol (products of allylic oxidation (hydroxylation) at positions 6 and 7 in limonene molecule). Therefore, ultimately, the most favorable conditions for the limonene oxidation process were selected at the highest conversion of limonene and at high values of perillyl alcohol and carveol or one of these two products. Perillyl alcohol and carveol have found numerous applications in medicine, among others, therefore this direction seems to be the most beneficial. This also work presents the short characteristization of the titanium silicate Ti-MCM-41 and Ti-MWW catalysts used in the research, taking into account their structure, properties and applications are presented.

Research on the epoxidation of diallyl ether (DAE) to allyl-glycidyl ether with 30 wt% hydrogen peroxide and in the presence of the TS-1 catalyst is presented. In this work, methanol was tested as the solvent. The influence of the following parameters was studied: the temperature 25-80°C, the molar ratio of DAE/H 2 O 2 0.25:1-5:1, the solvent concentration 10-90 wt%, the content of the TS-1 catalyst 1-9 wt% and the reaction time 15-240 min. Because the effective conversion of hydrogen peroxide was relatively low during the studies, after establishing the most beneficial conditions for the epoxidation of DAE, the influence of an addition of the chosen inorganic salt-KH 2 PO 4 on the effective conversion of hydrogen peroxide and other functions characterized this process was also tested.

The possibility of orange pulp utilization for nanoporous carbons production was investigated. Moreover, processing the obtained materials as limonene oxidation catalysts was studied as well. Limonene was separated from orange pulp obtained from fragmented orange peels-the waste from industrial fruits processing-by means of simple distillation. After the separation of limonene from the biomass, the dried orange pulp was converted to three types of nanoporous carbon catalysts: without activating agent, with NaOH, and with KOH. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, AFM, and sorption of N 2 methods. The activities of the obtained catalysts were tested in the oxidation of limonene to perillyl alcohol (the main product), carveol, carvone, and 1,2-epoxylimonene and its diol. In the oxidation processes, hydrogen peroxide was used as the oxidizing agent. This work has shown for the first time that nanoporous carbons obtained from orange pulp waste, after separation of limonene, are active catalysts for limonene oxidation to industrially important value-added products.

This work presents the research on the influence of the addition of the appropriate amounts of the inorganic salt (Na2SO4) on the reduction of the ineffective decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and simultaneously on the increase of the efficiency of hydrogen peroxide conversion. The studies were carried out for the epoxidation of diallyl ether to allyl-glycidyl ether with 30 wt% hydrogen peroxide on the TS-1 catalyst and in the presence of acetonitrile as the solvent. The studies were conducted in the following conditions: the temperature of 70°C, the molar ratio of diallyl ether/hydrogen peroxide = 3:1, the acetonitrile concentration of 50 wt%, the TS-1 content of 9 wt%, the reaction time of 3 hours, the intensity of stirring of 500 rpm and the molar ratio of hydrogen peroxide/Na2SO42:1 to 14:1 (also the results for epoxidation of diallyl ether without Na2SO4were presented)

Limonene belongs to the group of the monoterpenes, which are a raw material for the production of very valuable compounds. On an industrial scale limonene is obtained from orange peels – biomass, which comes from the fruit juice industry. Thus, limonene is an easily available compound and also relatively cheap because it comes from renewable sources. This paper presents the process of limonene epoxidation using the titanium-silicate catalyst Ti-MCM-41 and 60 wt% hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant and methanol as a solvent. The catalytic activity of this mesoporous material was tested at the selected temperatures (110-140°C) and for the reaction time amounted to 6h. In this work we present different ways of the transformation of limonene, not only to 1,2-epoxylimonene, but also to carvone, carveol and perillyl alcohol, which are also very valuable oxygenated derivatives of limonene.