A novel amphiphilic phase transfer catalyst for the green epoxidation of soybean oil with hydrogen peroxide.

• A novel amphiphilic phase transfer catalyst [(C 18 H 37) 2 (CH 3) 2 N] 3 {PO 4 [W(O)(O 2) 2 ] 4 } was developed. • The developed catalysts showed excellent catalytic performance for the epoxidation of soybean oil. • The developed catalyst was easily separable and maintained its activity after five cycles. • The catalytic mechanism was explored using FT-IR spectroscopy. • The interfacial properties of the developed catalyst were studied. Epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) is a vital organic renewable chemical material widely used in the preparation of biomaterials. In this paper, a novel amphiphilic phase transfer catalyst [(C 18 H 37) 2 (CH 3) 2 N] 3 {PO 4 [W(O)(O 2) 2 ] 4 } was developed to facilitate the green, safe and sustainable production of ESO, with the aim of achieving maximum environmental and economic benefits. Soybean oil (SBO) was epoxidized into ESO at a conversion rate of 98.6% and the selectivity of this process was above 99% with H 2 O 2 as the oxidant. The catalyst was easily separable through filtration after the reaction, and its activity was found to be consistently maintained after 5 cycles. The developed catalysts were characterized via various physical means such as Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the catalytic mechanism was explored using FT-IR spectroscopy. Several kinetic and thermodynamic experiments suggested that the developed catalyst possessed significant interfacial activity and the process followed a non-spontaneous endothermic pathway. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]