Synthesis
The dominant epoxides industrially are ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, which are produced respectively on the scales of approximately 15 and 3 million tonnes. The epoxidation of ethylene involves its catalytic reaction of oxygen according to the following stoichiometry:
- 7 H2C=CH2 + 6 O2 → 6 C2H4O + 2 CO2 + 2 H2O
The direct reaction of oxygen with alkenes is useful only for this epoxide. Other alkenes fail to react usefully, even propylene.
Read more about this topic: Epoxide
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