A low-deactivation-rate Lewis acid zeolite prepared in an alkali metal ion-containing system for alkene epoxidation

Abstract

Titanium silicate-1 (TS-1) is a type of commercial titanium-containing Lewis acid zeolite used as a catalyst in environmentally-benign processes to produce epoxide from alkene. Activity, selectivity of targeted products and catalytic life are three key factors to evaluate the catalytic performance of the TS-1 catalyst. Here, we showed a highly active TS-1 catalyst and thereof low-cost synthetic method with the advantages of improving the active-titanium content, yield and reproducibility. The catalytic life is more than 360 minutes while only less than 20 minutes for TS-1 from conventional methods, leading to conversion of reactants more than twice as high as that of TS-1 synthesized by conventional methods. Both the conversion and catalytic life are the best among the current reported TS-1 zeolites for 1-hexene oxidation under similar reaction conditions.