New catalytic Polymeric membranes Incorporationg Ti(IV) Trialkanolamines Complexes: Synthesis, Characterization and Application in Catalysis

The incorporation of chiral homogenous catalyst, Ti(IV)/(R,R,R)-tris-(2-phenylethanol)amine, in polymeric membranes provided the first asymmetric catalytic Ti(IV)-based membranes, stable and efficient as heterogeneous catalysts for stereoselective sulfoxidations and chemoselective oxidations of secondary amines to nitrones by alkyl hydroperoxides. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) -based catalytic membranes gave the best results affording products in short reaction times, high yields and high selectivity using as little as 1% of catalyst, comparable with the performances of the corresponding homogeneous system. The PVDF-Ti stability is reasonably good and catalyst activity increases with no loss of selectivity in the subsequent uses of the same membrane