Mechanism of [γ-H2SiV2W10O40]4--catalyzed epoxidation of alkenes with hydrogen peroxide

The mechanism of [gamma-H2SiV2W10O40](4-)-catalyzed epoxidation of alkenes with hydrogen peroxide in acetonitrile/tert-butyl alcohol was investigated. The negative Hammett rho(+) (-0.88) for the competitive oxidation of p-substituted styrenes and the low X-SO (X-SO = (nucleophilic oxidation)/(total oxidation)) value of < 0.01 for the [gamma-H2SiV2W10O40](4-)-catalyzed oxidation of thianthrene-5-oxide reveal that the strong electrophilic oxidant species is formed on [gamma-H2SiV2W10O40](4-) (I). The preferable formation of trans-epoxide for the epoxidation of 3-substituted cyclohexenes shows the steric constraints of the active oxidant on I. The V-51 NMR, W-183 NMR, and CSI-MS spectroscopy show that the reaction of I with hydrogen peroxide leads to the reversible formation of a hydroperoxo species [gamma-HSiV2W10O39OOH](4-) (II). The successive dehydration of II forms III, which possibly has an active oxygen species of a mu-eta(2):eta(2)-peroxo group. The kinetic and spectroscopic studies show that the present epoxidation proceeds via III. The energy diagram of the epoxidation with density functional theory (DFT) supports the idea.