Oxygen—bismuth bonds reactions with

This stabilization may also be interpreted in terms of oxygen anions, which, due, to the vacancy, are initially double bonded to Mo. One electron is transferred to the catalyst in this reaction step. To form acrolein, a second hydrogen atom is transferred (to form water) and an oxygen atom is bonded to the allyl radical. In this (rather complex) process, another three electrons are transferred to the catalysts and doubtless distributed over several Mo ions. Reoxidation takes place at the bismuth cations, where oxygen molecules are attracted by the free electron pair. The intermediate result is a surface bismuth with an oxygen coordination similar to that in the bulk, viz. 

Propene oxidation to acrolein is carried out commercially over a range of bismuth molybdate catalysts to which are added 3-4 additional metal oxides to boost the activity. The final catalysts are mixtures of binary and ternary oxides and some solid solutions. One feature is the ability of lattice oxygen to transfer readily at the reaction temperature between the multiple phases that make up this catalyst and to the reacting propene. Another key feature is that the initial point of activation of the propene is one of the methyl C-H bonds with the production of a surface allyl intermediate, hence the term allylic oxidation. 

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