Unlocking the catalytic potential of Na-P-V glasses in the oxidation of unsaturated molecules

The development of efficient and reusable heterogeneous catalysts for selective oxidation is an important challenge in sustainable chemical synthesis. In this context, amorphous mixed oxide glasses offer promising opportunities due to their compositional flexibility, homogeneous distribution of active species, and tunable structural and electronic properties. In this work, a series of sodium–phosphorus–vanadium (Na–P–V) oxide glass catalysts with varying compositions was investigated for the liquid-phase oxidation of unsaturated organic compounds, namely cyclooctene, limonene, and linalool, using aqueous tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as the oxidizing agent. The reactions were performed at 80 °C for 300 min to evaluate the influence of catalyst composition on substrate conversion and product selectivity.

The catalytic results revealed a pronounced dependence of oxidation performance on the Na/P/V ratio. Across the investigated catalyst compositions, cyclooctene conversion in the first evaluated series ranged from 39 % to 83 %, while epoxide selectivity reached values of up to 72 %. In the oxidation of limonene, conversion varied between 63 % and 96 %, with the highest value obtained using the 20Na-10P-70V catalyst. Product distribution analysis further revealed the formation of furanoid and pyranoid products, depending on catalyst composition. These results demonstrate that variations in vanadium content and the relative proportions of sodium and phosphorus substantially influence catalytic activity and product distribution. Notably, selected Na-P-V oxide glass catalysts, particularly those with higher vanadium content, could be recovered and successfully reused in limonene epoxidation, highlighting their potential as robust heterogeneous oxidation catalysts. Overall, this study establishes amorphous Na-P-V oxide glasses as promising compositionally tunable catalytic materials and provides insight into the relationship between glass composition and selective oxidation performance.