Iron acetylacetonate complex anchored on silica xerogel polymer

Iron(III) acetylacetonate complex immobilized on silica surface was obtained by the following three steps synthesis: (i) synthesis of organic precursor (acacsil) containing the acetylacetonate (acac) group; (ii) simultaneous polycondensation of the acacsil with the tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) by the sol-gel method resulting in the acac/silica xerogel; and (iii) complexation of the Fe(III) on the acac sites of the xerogel surface forming a Fe-acac/silica xerogel. The xerogels, acac/silica and Fe-acac/silica, are hybrid polymers that present a covalent organic/inorganic interface between the acac groups and silica. Xerogels were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, N2 adsorption desorption isotherms (pore size distribution and surface area) and elemental analysis. The Fe-acac/silica xerogel was tested as heterogeneous catalyst for the cis-cyclooctene epoxidation, employing the same conditions of the homogeneous Mukaiyama system.