Kinetics of Epoxidation of Cyclooctene with Ionic Liquids Containing Tungstate as Micellar Catalyst

Abstract

Abstract The kinetics of cyclooctene epoxidation with H 2 O 2 by micellar catalysis was studied. As catalyst, an ionic liquid (IL) containing the catalytically active tungstate anion was used. The tungstate IL forms micelles in the aqueous H 2 O 2 phase. It is simply formed by dissolving sodium tungstate and 1‐octyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [OMIM][BF 4 ] in aqueous H 2 O 2 . For the epoxidation of cyclooctene by micellar catalysis, a power law kinetic model was determined that takes the critical micelle concentration into account. The kinetics of the [OMIM][BF 4 ]/Na 2 WO 4 catalyst is similar to pure [OMIM] 2 [WO 4 ], which indicates that the active species is formed in situ. Addition of phenylphosphonic acid improves the activity of the tungstate IL. The most effective catalyst was tested in a semi‐continuous and continuous loop reactor.