Graphene oxide nanosheets supported manganese(III) porphyrin: a highly efficient and reusable biomimetic catalyst for epoxidation of alkenes with sodium periodate

Efficient epoxidation of alkenes catalyzed by tetrakis(p-aminophenyl)porphyrinatomanganese(III) chloride, Mn(TNH₂PP)Cl], supported on graphene oxide nanosheets, is reported. The catalyst, Mn(TNH₂PP)Cl]@GO, was prepared by covalent attachment of amino groups of porphyrin to carboxylic acid groups of GO. This new heterogenized catalyst was characterized by ICP, FT-IR and diffuse reflectance UV–vis spectroscopies, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. This catalyst was applied as an efficient and reusable catalyst in the epoxidation of alkenes with NaIO₄ at room temperature, in the presence of imidazole as axial ligand. The most noteworthy advantage of Mn(TNH₂PP)Cl]@GO is its high reusability in the oxidation reactions, in which the catalyst was reused several times without significant loss of its catalytic activity.