Abstract:The tungsten-containing biphasic catalytic system [Na 2 WO 4 /H 2 WO 4 /PTR/chloroacetic acid] effectively epoxidizes alkenes with 50% H 2 O 2 as terminal oxidant, under organic solvent-free conditions. The catalytic process is proposed to proceed via a dinuclear tungsten peroxo species with coordinated chloroacetic acid, as suggested by ESI-MS measurements. The catalytic system is suggested to involve tungsten-peroxo and/or peracetic acid type of epoxidation catalyzed by the tungsten(VI) in the presence of an organic acid and H 2 O 2 . The reaction conditions employed for various alkenes for epoxidation are mild compared to the earlier studies and result in high product selectivity and conversion rate.Keywords: alkenes; chloroacetic acid; epoxidation; hydrogen peroxide; tungsten The development of efficient and clean processes for the epoxidation of alkenes on a million-ton-per-year scale remains an important objective in the fine chemical industry. [1 -5] There is an increasing need for the elaboration of selective catalytic systems involving cheap, readily available, and ecologically friendly oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide. [6,7] In this context, polyoxotungstates have been extensively and successfully used during the past 20 years. [8 -11] A key experiment was performed by Venturello who selectively epoxidized 1-octene with a turnover number (TON, defined as mol product per mol catalyst) of 20 (82% yield based on H 2 O 2 ) using a Na 2 WO 4 -H 3 PO 4 -quaternary ammonium chloride catalyst.[12] Since then, this system has been intensely studied. [13,14] Nevertheless, this catalytic biphasic procedure is less desirable, as it requires the use of chlorinated solvents such as 1,2-dichloroethane. [15 -17] A first breakthrough occurred in 1996 when Noyori [18] reported a significant improvement of the original Venturello system. The epoxidation of terminal alkenes could be carried out within 4 hours, without organic solvents, and with up to 49.5 TON (99% yield, based on the olefin), using a catalytic mixture of Na 2 WO 4 dihydrate, (aminomethyl)phosphonic acid and the phase transfer reagent (PTR) methyltri-n-octylammonium hydrogen sulfate. [19] Recently, outstanding procedures involving tungsten-containing catalysts for the production of propylene oxide [20] and the epoxidation of allylic alcohols [21] were reported. The new catalytic system reported here consists of easily available, low-cost chemicals [Na 2 WO 4 /H 2 WO 4 / Aliquat 336 (PTR)/chloroacetic acid], which can be easily handled (Scheme 1). Typically, 200 mmoles of ciscyclooctene were reacted with 300 mmoles of hydrogen peroxide (50%) at 60 8C. The epoxidation is catalyzed by 0.025 mol % of Na 2 WO 4 and 0.025 mol % H 2 WO 4 with 0.2 mol % of chloroacetic acid in the presence of methyltri-n-octylammonium chloride (0.2 mol %) as PTR (Scheme 1). A maximum TON of as high as 1800 is reached after 4 hours with 99% selectivity. This rate of the epoxidation is compared under similar experimental conditions as above, to the one of Noyori et a...