SYNTHESIS OF CATALYTICALLY ACTIVE POLYMER-BOUND SCHIFF-BASE MANGANESECOMPLEXES FOR SELECTIVE EPOXIDATION OF UNFUNCTIONALIZED OLEFINS

A polymerizable unsymmetric tetradentate Schiff base with one vinyl gr oup 3 was synthesized and copolymerized with styrene in toluene. Mn(II I) ion was quantitatively incorporated into the copolymers by the func tional moieties. The resulting linear polymer-bound manganese complexe s (4a' and 4b') were used as catalyst under homogeneous condition for selective epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins (i.e. styrene, alpha -methylstyrene and cyclohexene) at room temperature in the presence of iodosylbenzene (PhIO) as the terminal oxidant. The efficacy of epoxid ation using the polymeric catalysts was comparable to that of the mono molecular analog. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.