Tandem Lewis acid catalysis for the conversion of alkenes to 1,2-diols in the confined space of bifunctional TiSn-Beta zeolite

The generation of multifunctional isolated active sites in zeolite supports is an attractive method for integrating multistep sequential reactions into a single-pass tandem catalytic reaction. In this study, bifunctional TiSn-Beta zeolite was prepared by a simple and scalable post-synthesis approach, and it was utilized as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the tandem conversion of alkenes to 1,2-diols. The isolated Ti and Sn Lewis acid sites within the TiSn-Beta zeolite can efficiently integrate alkene epoxidation and epoxide hydration in tandem in a zeolite microreactor to achieve one-step conversion of alkenes to 1,2-diols with a high selectivity of >90%. Zeolite confinement effects result in high tandem rates of alkene epoxidation and epoxide hydration as well as high selectivity toward the desired product. Further, the novel method demonstrated herein can be employed to other tandem catalytic reactions for sustainable chemical production. (C) 2021, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study prepared bifunctional TiSn-Beta zeolite as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for converting alkenes to 1,2-diols in a single step with high selectivity. The isolated Ti and Sn Lewis acid sites within the zeolite enabled efficient integration of alkene epoxidation and epoxide hydration in tandem reactions, showing high selectivity towards the desired product. This novel method can be applied to other tandem catalytic reactions for sustainable chemical production.