Amphiphilic phosphotungstate-paired ionic copolymer as a highly efficient catalyst for triphase epoxidation of alkenes with H2O2

A novel amphiphilic POM-paired ionic copolymer was prepared by the anion-exchange of a newly task-specific designed functionalized-ionic liquid copolymer with H3PW4O16, and characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TG, 1H NMR, and elemental analysis. This catalyst was not only capable of catalyzing the epoxidation of alkenes in a liquid–liquid–solid triphase reaction system, showing high catalytic conversions and selectivity, but also avoids the use of chlorinated solvents. After reaction, the catalyst can be conveniently recovered and steadily reused without the change of catalyst structure. The unique amphiphilic catalyst structure is revealed to be responsible for the catalyst's excellent performances in the epoxidation of alkenes with H2O2 by accelerating the mass transfer.