Effects of the Catalytic System MoO2(acac)2-TBHP in Polyisoprene Epoxidation Using Experimental Design

The epoxidation of polydienes yields materials with improved properties, which can be tuned by the control of the epoxidation degree. In this work, we retake a known process, the epoxidation of polyisoprene, by a different approach, in which the quantification of parameters influencing the epoxidation, such as temperature, oxidant and catalyst concentration, and reaction time degree is evaluated. We measured the influence of each parameter, allowing anyone who aims a polymer with a certain degree of epoxidation to choose which conditions are best suitable for reaching his goal.