Epoxidation of olefins catalyzed by Mn(II) salen complex anchored on PAMAM-SiO₂ dendrimer

New dendritic catalysts have been prepared by the immobilization of a Mn(II) salen complex on a polyamidoamine dendrimer propagated on the surface of silica. These have been applied in the catalytic epoxidation of olefins. Although the increase of the amount of Mn loading is found to be limited on high-generation dendrimers, the Mn(II) salen complex anchored on the fourth-generation dendrimer shows much higher catalytic activity toward the epoxidation of styrene than that anchored on lower generations. These results suggest that the length of the dendritic backbone chain plays an important role in increasing the accessibility between the catalytic active sites of the immobilized Mn(II) salen complex and the reactant molecules, resulting in the enhancement of the catalytic activity of the Mn(II) salen complex anchored on the fourth-generation dendrimer.