Heteropolyperoxo Complexes as Catalysts for Organic Oxidations

A recent area of developing interest is that of low nuclearity polyperoxometallates, especially the “heteropolyperoxo” species, [PO4{WO(O2)2}4]3-, which was isolated and found to have a highly symmetrical structure by Venturello and co-workers 1 . This is an active catalyst for the epoxidation of unactivated alkenes, by H2O2 under phase transfer conditions, notably as salts containing large lipophilic quaternary ammonium cations 2,3 .