Nonheme manganese(III) complexes for various olefin epoxidation: Synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity

Abstract Three mononuclear imine-based non-heme manganese(III) complexes with tetradentate ligands which have two deprotonated phenolate moieties, ([(X2saloph)Mn(OAc)(H2O)], 1a for X=Cl, 1b for X=H, and 1c for X=CH3, saloph=N,N-o-phenylenebis(salicylidenaminato)), were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, ESI-Mass and elemental analysis. MnIII complexes catalysed efficiently various olefin epoxidation reactions with meta-chloroperbenzoic acid (MCPBA) under the mild condition. MnIII complexes 1a and 1c with the electron-withdrawing group -Cl and electron-donating group -CH3 showed little substituent effect on the epoxidation reactions. Product analysis, Hammett study and competition experiments with cis- and trans-2-octene suggested that MnIV=O, MnV=O, and MnIII-OOC(O)R species might be key oxidants in the epoxidation reaction under this catalytic system. In addition, the use of PPAA as a mechanistic probe demonstrated that Mn-acylperoxo intermediate (MnIII-OOC(O)R) 2 generated from the reaction of peracid with manganese complexes underwent both the heterolysis and the homolysis to produce MnV=O (3) or MnIV=O species (4). Moreover, the MnIII-OOC(O)R 2 species could react directly with the easy-to-oxidize substrate to give epoxide, whereas the species 2 might not be competent to the difficult-to-oxidize substrate for the epoxidation reaction.