Preferential Formation of Squalene Monoepoxides via Microflow Reaction of Squalene and m-Chloroperbenzoic Acid

Abstract

The preferential monofunctionalization of squalene, a hydrocarbon biomass oil with hexaploid unsaturation, was attempted via epoxidation with m-chloroperbenzoic acid using a microflow technique. Controlling the concentration and residence time, the formation ratio of the monoepoxides to the produced epoxides was improved from 0.67 for a batch reaction to 0.85 for the microflow case. Furthermore, a high formation ratio of 0.97 was achieved utilizing a concentration of m-chloroperbenzoic acid that was 5 times lower than that of squalene.