Highly efficient and selective oxidation of various substrates under mild conditions using a lanthanum-containing polyoxometalate as catalyst

A lanthanum-containing polyoxometalate (POM) of DA11[La(PW11O39)2] (denoted as DA-La(PW11)2; DA = Decyltrimethylammonium cation) is highly efficient and selective for oxidation of various substrates including alkenes, alkenols, sulfides, silane and alcohol with only one equiv. H2O2 as oxidant at 25 °C, and the POM catalyst can be easily recovered and reused for ten times without obvious decrease of catalytic activity and the yields for catalyst recovery are all above 95%. The epoxidation of cis-cyclooctene proceeds efficiently in 98% yield with only 0.08 mol% of DA-La(PW11)2, and the turnover number (TON) can reach as high as 1200 at 25 °C.

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► The DA-La(PW11)2 is highly efficient and selective for oxidation of various substrates.
► The DA-La(PW11)2 acts as a dual trapping catalyst for both substrate and the oxidizing agent.
► The catalyst of DA-La(PW11)2 is recyclable.