Highly active/selective heterogeneous catalyst Co/TS-1 for epoxidation of styrene by molecular oxygen: Effects of catalyst preparation conditions and reaction conditions on the reaction

In the study, highly active/selective heterogeneous catalyst Co/TS-1 has been prepared successfully. The catalyst was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), diffuse reflectance UV-visible(DR UV-vis) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Liquid-phase catalytic epoxidation of styrene to styrene epoxide by molecular oxygen was carried out at atmospheric pressure in the presence of Co/TS-1 catalyst. Sacrificial co-reductant or other promoted reagent such as t-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) was not added in the reaction system. A 94.5 mol% conversion of styrene with an epoxide selectivity of 74.3 mol% was attained after 3.5 h reaction. It is noteworthy that there is a synergy between the Co and the Ti in the catalyst in the liquid phase epoxidation of styrene.