Abstract: Immobilization of Mn(salen) complex into the super-cage of Zeolite Y was achieved via traditional solvothermal method (SalenMnCl/Y) and microwave heating method (SalenMnCl/Y-MW), respectively. And FT-IR, XRD, TG and Specific surface area analysis were used to characterize the catalysts which were employed to catalyze the epoxidation of α-pinene to get α-poxypiene by peracetic acid under the low catalyst concentration. Comparative study of the performance of catalysts prepared by two methods was carried out. The optimal reaction condition was investigated by response surface methodology and used to evaluate the performance of the recycle catalyst . The results showed that although the catalysts prepared by two methods can both successfully catalyse α-pinene epoxidation, microwave heating method however is priority to traditional solvothermal method. The yield can reach 91.60 % with the catalyst of SalenMnCl/Y-MW under the following conditions,i.e., peroxide and α-pinene mole ratio 1.43, the reaction temperature 10 ℃ and the reaction time 3.75 h. Meanwhile, this type of catalyst can be recycled for 5 times and the yield also can reach 76 %. It indicates that this type of catalyst has good stability and can be recycled.

Key words: α-pinene, epoxidation, matal-Salen catalyst, molecular sieve loaded metal catalyst, microwave