Titanium silicalite reactions

The reaction is carried out using a titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) zeolite catalyst [30, 122]. This type of catalyst is known to accelerate the selective oxidation of alcohols, epoxidation of alkenes and hydroxylation of aromatics. These reactions have importance for fine-chemical production. 

This popular and rapidly maturing held has generated several reviews,31-37 which contain many references. The types of reactions typical of the titanium silicalites and similar titanium-incorporated catalytic systems are summarized in the following paragraphs. 

Oxidations of various organic substrates with aqueous hydrogen peroxide have been reported on titanium containing derivatives of silicalite-1, denoted as Titanium-Silicalite-1 or TS-1 [93-97]. Examples of reactions which are catalyzed by TS-1 with high H2O2 yields and product selectivities are listed in Table 6. The oxidations are generally carried out at atmospheric pressure and at temperatures ranging from 273 to 373 K. 

The direct hydroxylation of benzene and aromatics with a mixture of 02 and H2 have been performed by simultaneously mixing benzene, oxygen and hydrogen in the liquid phase using a very complicated system containing a multi-component catalyst, a solvent and some additives. Besides the possibility of an explosive gas reaction, these hydroxylations gave only very low yields, 0.0014—0.69% of phenol and aromatic alcohols. For example, Pd-containing titanium silicalite zeolites catalyzed... 

The effect of zeolite porosity on the reaction rate was also well demonstrated in liquid-phase oxidation over titanium-containing molecular sieves. Indeed, the remarkable activity in many oxidations with aqueous H2O2 of titanium silicalite (TS-1) discovered by Enichem is claimed to be due to isolation of Ti(IV) active sites in the hydrophobic micropores of silicalite.[42,47,68 69] The hydrophobicity of this molecular sieve allows for the simultaneous adsorption within the micropores of both the hydrophobic substrate and the hydrophilic oxidant. The positive role of hydrophobicity in these oxidations, first demonstrated with titanium microporous glasses,[70] has been confirmed later with a series of titanium silicalites differing by their titanium content or their synthesis procedure.[71] The hydrophobicity index determined by the competitive adsorption of water and n-octane was shown to decrease linearly with the titanium content of the molecular sieve, hence with the content in polar Si-O-Ti bridges in the framework for Si/Al > 40.[71] This index can be correlated with the activity of the TS-1 samples in phenol hydroxylation with aqueous H2C>2.[71] The specific activity of Ti sites of Ti/Al-MOR[72] and BEA[73] molecular sieves in arene hydroxylation and olefin epoxidation, respectively, was also found to increase significantly with the Si/Al ratio and hence with the hydrophobicity of the framework. 

The isomorphous substitution of T atoms by other elements produces novel hybrid atom molecular sieves with interesting properties. In the early 1980s, the synthesis of a zeolite material where titanium was included in the MFI framework of silicalite, that is, in the aluminum-free form of ZSM-5, was reported. The name given to the obtained material was titanium silicalite (TS-1) [27], This material was synthesized in a tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) system substantially free of metal cations. A material containing low levels (up to about 2.5 atom %) of titanium substituted into the tetrahedral positions of the MFI framework of silicalite was obtained [28], TS-1 has been shown to be a very good oxidation catalyst, mainly in combination with a peroxide, and is currently in commercial use. It is used in epoxidations and related reactions. TS-1, additionally an active and selective catalyst, is the first genuine Ti-containing microporous crystalline material. 

The advantage of the above two methods are high yields of epoxides, and the titanium silicalite catalyst is not deactivated or poisoned by the contaminants in the crude oxidation mixture. Hence, the processes are commercially attractive. The in situ hydrogen peroxide generation based on the AO process from either the anthraquinone/anthrahydroquinone or ketone/alcohol redox couples has also been used for the following synthetic reactions ... 

The epoxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide has been implemented to pilot plant scale (2,000 t/a) by EniChem. The reaction is catalyzed by titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1). Although TS-1 has similar composition to the Ti/Si02 developed by Shell for the epoxidation of propylene with organic hydroperoxides ca. 2.5 wt% Ti, as Ti02) the reactivity is quite different. TS-1 prefers H2O2 and protic solvents, and is almost inactive with hydroperoxides or in apolar media. The reverse holds for Ti/Si02. The reason is found in the different... 

The discovery in the early 80 s of titanium silicalites [62-64] opened the new application perspective of zeolitic materials as oxidation catalysts. Several reactions of partial oxidation of organic reactants using dilute solutions of hydrogen peroxide could for the first time be performed selectively in very mild conditions. Other elements inserted in the lattice of silicalites have since been shown to have similarly interesting catalytic properties including, vanadium, zirconium, chromium and more recently tin and arsenic [65]. Titanium silicalites with both MFI (TS-1) and MEL (TS-2) structures have however been the object of more attention and they still seem to display unmatched properties. Indeed some of these reactions like the oxyfunctionalization of alkanes [66-69] by H2O2 are not activated by other Ti containing catalysts (with the exception of Ti-Al-Beta [70]). The same situation... 

The vanadium silicalites (with MFI and MEL stmcture) are active oxidation catalyst in gas and liquid phase reactions [180]. As for the titanium silicalites, only the ftamework associated vandium exhibits redox properties [181]. For example, in the hydroxylation of phenol, silicalite impregnated with vanadium compounds is catalytically inactive [182]. The catalytically active vanadium species is speculated to be located in non-tetrahedral positions, most probably chemically bound to the framework. Vanadium bound in that way is not extractable from the lattice [ 183]. A proposed stmcture of the vanadium site is schematically shown in Scheme 21. Note that the Si-O-V bonds are longer than the Si-O-Ti bonds and that V seems to be more exposed. The redox properties are affiliated with the changes in the oxidation state of vanadium between +IV and +V. Vanadium silicates with SiA ratios ranging from 40 to 160 have been reported and these high values suggest (in accordance with V MAS-NMR measurements) that the V sites are isolated in the lattice. 

Titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1), first synthesized in 1983, is well known for its outstanding ability to catalyze various oxidation and hydroxylation reactions. This catalytic activity is ascribed to the presence of Ti atoms in the zeolite. Knowledge of the effect of the Ti atoms on the framework structure and of the location of the Ti atoms in the zeolite would be useful in understanding the catalytic properties of TS-1. Although TS-1 has been characterized extensively, the location of the Ti atoms in the zeolite is still under discussion. The maximum amount of framework Ti has been reported to be 2.5 Ti atoms per... 

The first step operates in the liquid phase with ammonia and H2O2 as the reactants and titanium-silicalite (TS-1) as the catalyst. TS-1 is a zeolite, developed by Eni, having a structure that belongs to the same MEI family as ZSM-5, but in which A1 is absent (acid sites are detrimental for selectivity) and substituted by tetravalent Ti ions, which can activate H2O2 and give selective reactions of oxidation (Eigure 2.33 see also Chapter 6 on propene oxide for further aspects). 

In the second step, a dilute H P-methanol solution is introduced in a fixed-bed epoxidation reactor. Make-up propene, recycled propene and HP from the product purification stage are fed into the reactor. The reaction is catalyzed by titanium silicalite, and takes place at 40-50 °C and 300 psi. HP per-pass conversion is initially 96% but drops down to 63% after 400 hours. PO selectivity is 95 mol.% propene per-pass conversion is 39.8%. This technology gives capital savings compared to conventional hydroperoxidation technologies however, it is likely that the operating costs of such a plant are higher than that of the latter. 

G. Belussi, A. Carati, M. G. Clerici, G. Maddinelli, R. MiUini, Reactions of titanium silicalite with protic molecules and hydrogen peroxide, J. Catal. 133 (1992) 220. 

Clerici and Bellussi" have shown that hexane in methanol can be selectively oxidized to 2-hexanol, 3-hexanol, 2-hexanone and 3-hexanone using a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen at 25 - 30 . The reactions were run in the presence of HCl for 20 - 24 hours. Several titanium silicalite catalysts containing Pd (0.01 mol ratio to Ti02) were prepared and used in these reactions. Presumably, hydrogen plays the role of an electron-donor activating the Ti catalyst. However, no explanations were offered. 

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