Lattice ammoxidation

The active site on the surface of selective propylene ammoxidation catalyst contains three critical functionalities associated with the specific metal components of the catalyst (37—39) an a-H abstraction component such as Sb ", or Te" " an olefin chemisorption and oxygen or nitrogen insertion component such as Mo " or and a redox couple such as Fe " /Fe " or Ce " /Ce" " to enhance transfer of lattice oxygen between the bulk and surface... 

Ammonia also reacts with the acrolein intermediate, via the formation of an imine or possibly oxime intermediate which transforms faster to the acrylonitrile than to the acrylamide intermediate. This pathway of reaction occurs at lower temperatures in comparison to that involving an acrylate intermediate, but its relative importance depends on the competitive reaction of the acrolein intermediate with the ammonia species and with catalyst lattice oxygens. NH3 coordinated on Lewis sites also inhibits the activation of propane differently from that absorbed on Brsurface reaction network in propane ammoxidation. 

The reducibility of the catalyst systems was further examined using temperature programmed reduction with a 3X hydrogen/argon gas mixture. The TPR curves shown in Figure 7 illustrate the NnP oxide catalyst is not readily reduced at reaction temperatures. In contrast, the FeNo oxide catalyst begins to reduce at 250 0, and the rate of reduction is fast at temperatures of methanol ammoxidation activity (425 -475°C). The poor lability of lattice oxygen for the HnP oxide catalyst provides additional evidence for a non-redox process. 

Aykan (35) reported that ammoxidation of propylene occurred over a silica-supported bismuth molybdate catalyst in the absence of gas-phase oxygen, although the catalytic activity decreased rapidly with increasing catalyst reduction. The reduction process was followed by X-ray and it was found that phase changes which occurred in the catalyst and the decrease in catalytic activity corresponded quantitatively to the depletion of lattice oxygen. 

This article therefore seeks to examine in depth just one mixed oxide catalyst, tin-antimony oxide, which has been commercially developed (2-5) for the oxidation of propylene to acrolein as well as for the ammoxidation of propylene to acrylonitrile and the oxidative dehydrogenation of butenes to 1,3-butadiene. A recent book (6) and a subsequent review (7) have shown how little unanimity has been established about the fundamental properties of the material. In particular there seems to be much confusion as to the phase composition, the nature of the cationic oxidation states, the chemical environment of the cations, the charge compensation mechanism, the nature of the active sites, the distortion of the host tin(IV) oxide lattice by the dopant antimony atoms and whether any changes in the catalyst result from the adsorption and catalytic processes. 

All selective oxidation and ammoxidation catalysts possess redox properties. They must be capable not only of reduction during the formation of acrolein or acrylonitrile, but also subsequent catalyst reoxidation in which gaseous oxygen becomes incorporated into the lattice as to replenish catalyst vacancies (Scheme 2). As mentioned earlier, the incorporation of such redox properties into solid state metal oxides was one of the salient working hypotheses on which the development of the Sohio ammoxidation process was based (2). Later, Keulks (70) confirmed the involvement of lattice oxygen in propylene oxidation by using as a vapor phase oxidant. The results showed that the incorporation of O into the acrolein (and CO2) increases with time (Fig. 11), which is consistent with the above redox mechanism. 

In allylic oxidation reactions (Eqns. 8-13), an olefin (usually propylene) is activated by the abstraction of a hydrogen a to the double bond to produce an allylic intermediate. This intermediate can be intercepted by catalyst lattice oxygen to form acrolein or acrylic acid (oxidation), lattice oxygen in the presence of ammonia to form acrylonitrile (ammoxidation),... 

The development of the Sohio ammoxidation process was based on the theory that lattice oxygen from a solid metal oxide would serve as a more selective and versatile oxidant ... 

Another propylene ammoxidation catalyst that was used commercially was U-Sb-0. This catalyst system was discovered and patented by SOHIO in the mid-1960s (26,27). Optimum yield of acrylonitrile from propylene required sufficient antimony in the formulation in order to ensure the presence of the USbaOio phase rather than the alternative uranium antimonate compound USbOs (28-30). The need for high antimony content was understood to stem from the necessity to isolate the uranium cations on the surface, which were presumed to be the sites for partial oxidation of propylene. Isolation by the relatively inactive antimony cation prevented complete oxidation of propylene to CO2. Later publications and patents showed that the activity of the U-Sb-0 catalyst is increased by more than an order of magnitude by the substitution of a tetravalent cation, tin, titanium, and zirconium (31). Titanium was found to be especially effective. The promoting effect results in the formation of a solid solution by isomorphous substitution of the tetravalent cation for Sb + within the catalytically active USbaOio- phase. This substitution produces o gen vacancies in the lattice and thus increases the facility for diffusion of lattice o gen in the solid structure. As is discussed below, the enhanced diffusion of o gen is directly linked to increased activity of selective (amm)oxidation catalysts based on mixed metal oxides. 

The reason for the difference in the effectiveness between each of the crystal face to catalyze the ammoxidation of alkyl aromatics selectively is a result of the specific electronic character of the oxygen atoms associated with the vanadium atoms of the V2 O5 structure. As was learned about the role of lattice oxygen (0 ) in the selective ammoxidation of propylene to acrylonitrile (see above), hydrogen abstraction and oxygen insertion require oxygen atoms with nucleophilic character (79). On the other hand, nonselective oxidation is affected by electrophilic oxygen species, O2 and O . These are the intermediate species in the dissociative chemisorption and reduction of O2 to lattice (80). 

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