Catalysis Letters, Vol.136, No.3-4, 249-259, 2010
Liquid-Phase Cyclohexene Epoxidation with H2O2 over RuO2-Loaded Mesoporous-Assembled TiO2 Nanocrystals: Catalyst Preparation and Recyclability
The purpose of this work was to investigate the liquid-phase cyclohexene epoxidation with H2O2 using RuO2-loaded mesoporous-assembled TiO2 nanocrystals. The loading of RuO2 on the mesoporous-assembled TiO2 was performed by two methods: (1) incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) (RuO2/TiO2 (IWI)) and (2) single-step sol-gel (SSSG) (RuO2/TiO2 (SSSG)). Among the investigated RuO2/TiO2 (IWI) and RuO2/TiO2 (SSSG) catalysts, 1 mol.% RuO2/TiO2 (SSSG) calcined at 450 degrees C was found to possess relatively high catalytic performance based on the cyclohexene conversion and cyclohexene oxide selectivity. The recyclability of the RuO2/TiO2 (IWI) and RuO2/TiO2 (SSSG) catalysts was also investigated. It was found that after three consecutive catalytic reaction cycles, the RuO2/TiO2 (IWI) exhibited a slight decrease in cyclohexene conversion, but a significant decrease in cyclohexene oxide selectivity. On the other hand, the RuO2/TiO2 (SSSG) exhibited almost unchanged conversion and cyclohexene oxide selectivity, indicating its much higher stability. XRF and TPR results indicate that the high stability of the RuO2/TiO2 (SSSG) is due to the strong metal oxide-support interaction.
Keywords:Cyclohexene epoxidation;RuO2/TiO2;Mesoporosity;Incipient wetness impregnation;Single-step sol-gel;Recyclability;TPR;XRF