New chiral catalytic membrane reactor created by immobilizing salen-Mn(III) onto APTES modified ceramic membrane and its performances in epoxidation of styrene

New chiral catalytic ceramic membrane (CCCM) reactor was constructed by immobilizing mono-CH₂Cl-salen-Mn(III) catalysts onto 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane modified ceramic ultrafiltration membranes through chemical bonding. The performance of CCCM reactor was investigated by catalyzing the asymmetric epoxidation of styrene and was comparable to the homogeneous salen-Mn(III) catalyst under the same reaction conditions. Furthermore, the obtained reactor showed relatively stable catalytic performances in four runs of epoxidation reaction. And in this reactor, the catalyst can be reused directly without any separation stage.