Grafting of a tetrahydro-salen copper(II) complex on surface modified mesoporous materials and its catalytic behaviour

A tetrahydro-salen copper(II) complex (1) is grafted on the iodosilane modified surfaces of MCM-41 and MCM-48. The presence of complex 1 on the surfaces is evidenced by 1H MAS–NMR, elemental analysis and TG-MS. The strucutre of the supports after modification remains intact, which is evident from powder XRD, N2 adsorption/desorption (BET), and TEM analysis. The grafted materials are applicable as catalysts for cyclooctene epoxidation and they are found to maintain activity for several runs.