A Review on Heterogeneous Solid Catalysts and Related Catalytic Mechanisms for Epoxidation of Olefins with H2O2

The epoxidation reaction using heterogeneous solid catalysts with H2O2 as oxidants are environmentally friendly routes to produce extensively useful epoxides which are traditionally obtained from capital-intensive or environmentally polluted processes. In this paper, various types of solid catalysts for the epoxidation of olefins with H2O2 as oxidants are reviewed. The efficient catalysts reported include microporous and mesoporous molecular sieves, layered-type materials, inorganic oxides, supported catalysts, zeolite encapsulated metal complexes, polyoxometalates, and supported organometallic catalysts. The proposed reaction mechanisms over different solid catalysts are summarized. The problems and perspectives to further efficiently improve the catalytic performances of the concerned heterogeneous catalysts for epoxidation reaction are remarked.