Osmium Impregnated on Magnetite as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the syn-Dihydroxylation of Alkenes

A new catalyst derived from osmium has been prepared, fully characterized and tested in the dihydroxylation of alkenes. The catalyst was prepared by wet impregnation methodology of OsCl3•3H2O on a commercial micro-magnetite surface. The catalyst allowed the reaction with one of the lowest osmium loadings for a heterogeneous catalyst and was selective for the monodihydroxylation of 1,5-dienes. Moreover, the catalyst was easily removed from the reaction medium by the simple use of a magnet. The selectivity of catalyst is very high with conversions up to 99%. Preliminary kinetics studies showed a first-order reaction rate with respect to the catalyst.