Mesoporous silica as phase transfer agent in the biphasic oxidative cleavage of alkenes using triazole complexes of ruthenium as catalyst precursors

The oxidative cleavage of alkenes was performed using ruthenium triazole -arene complexes immobilized on mesoporous silica materials. These silica-organometallic hybrid materials were found to show enhanced activity when compared to conventional homogeneous systems even when operating at a relatively low catalyst loading. The enhanced catalytic performance of these heterogeneous systems can be attributed to the mesoporous silica acting as a phase transfer agent in the biphasic catalyst system.