Effects of molecular confinement on structure and catalytic behaviour of metal phthalocyanine complexes encapsulated in zeolite-Y

摘要

Metal phthalocyanine complexes (MPc; M = V, Co and Cu) encapsulated in zeolite-Y have beenprepared by “in situ ligand synthesis” method and characterized by chemical and thermal analysesand FT-IR, diffuse reflectance UV-vis and EPR spectroscopic techniques. The studies haveprovided evidence for the encapsulation of MPc inside the supercages of zeolite-Y. The Pc moietyundergoes distortion from square planarity on encapsulation. Spectroscopic studies havedifferentiated the encapsulated and surface adsorbed MPc molecules. The encapsulated complexesexhibited enhanced styrene epoxidation activity with tert-butylhydroperoxide (TBHP) than the“neat” complexes in homogeneous medium. A comparative study has revealed that the activity andproduct selectivity of the encapsulated complexes vary with the central metal atom.