Grafting polyethylene glycols molybdenum(VI) complexes on ZSPP and their catalytic epoxidation of cyclohexene

A new type of inorganic–organic hybrid materials – zirconium oligo-styrenyl phosphonate hydrogen phosphate (ZSPP) was used to prepare heterogeneous catalysts for olefin epoxidation by grafting polyethylene glycols on ZSPP and subsequently coordinating with MoO2(acac)2. The catalysts were characterized by IR, Raman, XPS, XRD, TG, BET and elemental analysis. The catalytic activities of the prepared catalysts were evaluated through the epoxidation of cyclohexene using TBHP as oxidant. The results indicated that conversion and selectivity increased at first and then decreased with increasing numbers of O atoms in the ligands, and the catalyst 2b gave the best catalytic results that the conversion and selectivity was up to 98.9% and 97.4%, respectively.