Ti-YNU-2: A Microporous Titanosilicate with Enhanced Catalytic Performance for Phenol Oxidation

YNU-2P, a highly crystalline composite of organic structure-directing agent and pure-silica MSE precursor, was stabilized by steaming so as to retain adequate site defects. To the remaining site defects, the efficient introduction of Ti into the framework was accomplished to give the new microporous titanosilicate Ti-YNU-2 after optimizing the conditions for steaming and vapor phase TiCl4 treatments. This material proved to be a high-performance catalyst, exhibiting remarkably enhanced performance compared to Ti-MCM-68, a material already known to show superior performance to TS-1, during phenol oxidation using H2O2 as an oxidant.