Supported Ruthenium and Tetrapropylammonium Bromide Catalysts for Oxidative Carboxylation of 1-Decene

Cyclic carbonate compounds are valuable for a range of applications and can be synthesized by a one-pot reaction involving epoxidation of olefin followed by reaction of the epoxide with CO2. This study used supported ruthenium catalysts for the epoxidation step (first step), where a combination of tetrapropylammonium bromide and zinc bromide was used for the cycloaddition of carbon dioxide. The supported ruthenium catalyst, prepared by a sol-immobilization method, allowed the effective epoxidation of 1-decene in air (using oxygen as the main oxidant) at 90 ºC in the presence of a catalytic quantity of radical initiator. This approach was applied to the one-pot multi-step oxidative carboxylation of 1-decene in the presence of 1 % Ru/support-Pr4NBr/ZnBr2 catalyst