Alkene epoxidations are an important class of reactions carried out in industry; however, current methods are plagued by problems, including high cost, difficulty in recovering catalysts, and generation of large quantities of acidic and chlorinated waste. In recent years, nanocatalysts have been considered as robust, heterogeneous alternatives to homogeneous catalysts. This work evaluates silver- and base metal-containing nanocatalysts as olefin epoxidation catalysts, highlighting the industrial applicability and green aspects of these catalytic systems. The nanocatalysts discussed are mostly supported or composite materials that showed (generally) good activity and selectivity for various/multiple olefin epoxidation reactions.

烯烃环氧化是工业上进行的重要反应类别。但是，目前的方法存在问题，包括成本高，催化剂回收困难以及产生大量酸性和氯化废物。近年来，纳米催化剂已被认为是均相催化剂的可靠，多相替代品。这项工作评估了作为烯烃环氧化催化剂的含银和贱金属的纳米催化剂，突出了这些催化体系的工业实用性和绿色方面。讨论的纳米催化剂主要是负载的或复合材料，它们对各种/多种烯烃环氧化反应显示出（通常）良好的活性和选择性。