Titanium silicate molecular sieves hydroxylations

Titanium silicate molecular sieves not only catalyze the oxidation of C=C double bonds but can be successfully employed for the oxidative cleavage of carbon-nitrogen double bonds as well. Tosylhydrazones and imines are oxidized to their corresponding carbonyl compounds (243) (Scheme 19). Similarly, oximes can be cleaved to their corresponding carbonyl compounds (165). The conversion of cyclic dienes into hydroxyl ketones or lactones is a novel reaction reported by Kumar et al. (165) (Scheme 20). Thus, when cyclopentadienes, 1,3-cyclohexadiene, or furan is treated with aqueous H202 in acetone at reflux temperatures for 6 h in the presence of TS-1, the corresponding hydroxyl ketone or lactone is obtained in moderate to good yields (208). 

Bhaumik A., Mukherjee P. and Kumar R., Triphase catalysis over titanium-silicate molecular sieves under solvent-free conditions -1. Direct hydroxylation of benzene, J. Catal. (1998) 178 pp. 101-107. 

The turnover numbers (TON) of phenol are 62.4 and 105.4 with a H2O2 efficiency of 28.9 wt.% and 48.9 wt.% for the Zr-Sil-2 samples A and B, respectively. A significant difference in the product distribution between these two runs is also observed. The catechol (CAT) to hydroquinone (HQ) ratios are 0.9 and 1.7 for Zr-Sil-2 (A) and (B) samples, respectively. A CAT/HQ ratio of 0.9 to 1.3 has been reported for titanium and vanadium silicate molecular sieves (TS-2 and VS-2) [13]. The samples synthesized using Zr(acac)4 show a nearly two fold activity in the reaction probably due to the smaller particle size. These results indicate that in the case of Zr-Sil-2 samples synthesized using ZrCU, the Zr " ions are well dispersed within the channels of the MEL structure while in the samples synthesized using Zr(acac)4, the hydroxylation occurs at the external surface as well, where a part of Zr species may be located. For small submicron crystals (<1 pm), external surface sites could be a significant fraction of the total surface area. If the external surface sites are catalytically either the same or more active than the intracrystalline active sites, then the shape selectivity of a zeolite could... 

In the present work the synthesis of highly dispersed niobium or titanium containing mesoporous molecular sieves catalyst by direct grafting of different niobium and titanium compounds is reported. Grafting is achieved by anchoring the desired compounds on the surface hydroxyl groups located on the inner and outer surface of siliceous MCM-41 and MCM-48 mesoporous molecular sieves. Catalytic activity was evaluated in the liquid phase epoxidation of a-pinene with hydrogen peroxide as oxidant and the results are compared with widely studied titanium silicalites. The emphasis is directed mainly on catalytic applications of niobium or titanium anchored material to add a more detailed view on their structural physicochemical properties. 

The incorporation of Ti into various framework zeolite structures has been a very active research area, particularly during the last 6 years, because it leads to potentially useful catalysts in the oxidation of various organic substrates with diluted hydrogen peroxide [1-7]. The zeolite structures, where Ti incorporation has been achieved are ZSM-5 (TS-1) [1], ZSM-11 (TS-2) [2] ZSM-48 [3] and beta [4]. Recently, mesoporous titanium silicates Ti-MCM-41 and Ti-HMS have also been reported [5]. TS-1 and TS-2 were found to be highly active and selective catalysts in various oxidation reactions [6,7]. All other Ti-modified zeolites and molecular sieves had limited but interesting catalytic activities. For example, Ti-ZSM-48 was found to be inactive in the hydroxylation of phenol [8]. Ti-MCM-41 and Ti-HMS catalyzed the oxidation of very bulky substrates like 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol, norbomylene and a-terpineol [5], but they were found to be inactive in the oxidation of alkanes [9a], primary amines [9b] and the ammoximation of carbonyl compounds [9a]. As for Ti-P, it was found to be active in the epoxidation of alkenes and the oxidation of alkanes and alcohols [10], even though the conversion of alkanes was very low. Davis et al. [11,12] also reported that Ti-P had limited oxidation and epoxidation activities. In a recent investigation, we found that Ti-P had a turnover number in the oxidation of propyl amine equal to one third that of TS-1 and TS-2 [9b]. As seen, often the difference in catalytic behaviors is not attributable to Ti sites accessibility. 

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