Preparation and characterization of nano MnO-CaLs as a green catalyst for oxidation of styrene.

Hydrophilic nano MnO is shown to have significant stability in aqueous media for oxidation of styrene. Different catalysts have been used to synthesis styrene oxide, but MnO-CaL is considered the efficient and selective catalyst to produce styrene oxide. In general, this paper reported especial strategy for synthesis of novel nano MnO that stabilized with oleic acid in chloroform and changing nature of its stabilizer by exchanging oleic acid with lignosulfunate and displays its catalytic activity towards selective oxidation of styrene. The catalyst has shown good selectivity in oxidation of styrene by changing temperature. Finding the optimal conditions for reaction and determining the best time and temperature for achieving the ideal product and reducing the side products are among the issues discussed in this article. MnO-CaLs leads to selective oxidation of styrene to styrene epoxide at low temperature. By increasing the temperatures, benzaldehyde and partially 2-phenyl acetaldehyde are also produced as by-products. Furthermore, the nano catalyst could be recycled several times without any clear changing in activity, which makes nano catalyst economic and environmentally friendly.