Perfluorinated quaternary ammonium salts of polyoxometalate anions: Fluorous biphasic oxidation catalysis with and without fluorous solvents

Perfluorinated quaternary ammonium cations, [CF{sub 3}(CF{sub 2}){sub 7}(CH{sub 2}){sub 3}]{sub 3}CH{sub 3}N{sup +} (RFN{sup +}), were synthesized and used as counter cations for the [WZnM{sub 2}(H{sub 2}O){sub 2}(ZnW{sub 9}O{sub 34}){sub 2}]{sup 12-} (M = Mn(II), Zn(II)), polyoxometalate. The (RFN{sup +}){sub 12}[WZnM{sub 2}(H{sub 2}O){sub 2}(ZnW9O{sub 34}){sub 2}] compounds were fluorous biphasic catalysts for alcohol and alkenol oxidation, and alkene epoxidation with aqueous hydrogen peroxide. Reaction protocols with or without a fluorous solvent were tested. The catalytic activity and selectivity was affected both by the hydrophobicity of the solvent and the substrate