Liquid-phase oxidation of 2-butene in the presence of benzaldehyde

Abstract

The co-oxidation of cis- and trans-2-butene and benzaldehyde at 110 °C has been carried out in benzene and the mechanism of epoxide formation has been investigated by examining the ratio of cis- to trans-epoxides. The results indicate that epoxides were formed by two mechanisms, one involving the benzoylperoxy radical to give about half cis and half trans epoxides and the other by stereospecific epoxidation with perbenzoic acid. Experimental results show that the stereospecific character of epoxidation increases with the reaction time and the concentration of benzaldehyde, but does not depend on the concentration of 2-butene.