Design and synthesis of hybrid solids based on the tetravanadate core toward improved catalytic properties

Five inorganic–organic hybrid vanadates based on tetravanadate cores, transition metals and N-donor ligands have been designed and synthesized under hydrothermal conditions, namely, [Zn(eIM)3]2V4O12 (1), [Zn(pIM)3]2V4O12·H2O (2), [Zn(ipIM)3]2V4O12 (3), [Co(eIM)3]2V4O12·H2O (4), [Cu(eIM)2(H2O)]2V4O12 (5) (eIM = 1-ethylimidazole, pIM = 1-propylimidazole, ipIM = isopropylimidazole). All compounds were fully characterized by single-crystal XRD, powder XRD, elemental analysis, TGA, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The hybrid zinc vanadates (1–3) and cobalt vanadate (4) exhibit interesting 2D folded structures and the hybrid copper vanadate (5) presents a 1D chain configuration. All compounds can catalyze olefin epoxidation reactions when using TBHP (TBHP = tert-butyl hydroperoxide) as an oxidant in acetonitrile. The introduction of transition metal ions into tetravanadate cores not only improved the catalytic activity but also fulfilled the heterogeneous catalytic behavior. 1–5 all exhibit extraordinary efficiency in converting olefins to the corresponding epoxides with high conversion and selectivity (particularly, conv. up to 97.1%, sele. up to 100% for 1). Leaching test was also carried out to prove the heterogeneous behavior.

Graphical abstractBy introducing the transitional metal ions of Zn2+, Co2+, Cu2+ into the tetravanadates cores, we obtained five inorganic–organic hybrid vanadates. Compounds 1–5 exhibit much better efficiency in converting olefins to the corresponding epoxides with high conversion and selectivity than the original tetravanadates. More importantly, they also can function as heterogeneous catalysts and be reused without losing their activity.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide