Optimisation of olefin epoxidation catalysts with the application of high-throughput and genetic algorithms assisted by artificial neural networks (softcomputing techniques)

An olefin epoxidation Ti catalyst has been optimised by means of high-throughput experimentation involving materials synthesis, postsynthesis treatments, and catalytic testing. Softcomputing techniques for advanced experimental design have been used. The variables explored in the hydrothermal synthesis of Ti-silicate-based catalysts were: concentration of OH⁻, titanium, and surfactant. The probe reaction employed for the optimisation was the solvent-free epoxidation of cyclohexene, with tert-butylhydroperoxide as oxidant. The different catalyst groups detected by clustering analysis were studied by XRD and UV diffuse reflectance. Ti-mesoporous MCM-41 and MCM-48 molecular sieves were among the most active catalysts. The best performing catalysts were tested for epoxidation of different linear olefins.     

Salen-Mn(Ⅲ)和Salen-Mo(Ⅳ)配合物在介孔硅胶上接枝及烯烃环氧化催化性能

通过肽键作用将Salen型金属配合物接枝到介孔硅胶孔道中生成固相催化剂,采用红外光谱、热重分析和元素分析等对制备的固相催化剂进行表征,结果证实,Salen型金属配合物成功接枝到介孔硅胶载体上。以环辛烯和环己烯为反应底物,叔丁基过氧化氢和过氧化氢为氧化剂,比较均相Salen型催化剂和多相Salen型催化剂的催化活性。制备的均相Salen型催化剂和利用肽键键合制备的固相催化剂均具有一定的催化性能,Mo-Salen催化活性更高,是因为叔丁基过氧化氢在Mo-Salen存在下易分解。固相催化剂活性≤75℃时稳定,在氧化剂叔丁基过氧化氢和过氧化氢作用下具有较好的稳定性能。重复实验中,金属离子流失量很小,催化活性和TOF值未降低,表明利用肽键制备的固相催化剂催化活性稳定,为固相催化剂的制备开辟新思路。     

Highly Enantioselective Epoxidation of Unfunctionalized Olefins Catalyzed by Chiral Jacobsen’s Catalyst Immobilized on Phenoxy‐Modified Zirconium Poly(syrene‐phenylvinylphos‐ phonate)phosphate

Chiral Jacobsen’s catalyst was axially immobilized onto phenoxy‐modified zirconium poly(styrene‐phenylvinylphosphonate)phosphate (ZPS‐PVPA). The immobilized catalysts show comparable ee values for asymmetric epoxidation of styrene and much higher ee values for α‐methylstyrene (73.7% vs. 54.0%) and indene (99.9% vs. 65.0%) than the homogeneous Jacobsen’s catalyst. Moreover, the as‐synthesized catalysts are relatively stable and can be recycled at least five times without significant loss of activity and enantioselectivity. A point worth emphasizing is that the heterogeneous catalysts afforded remarkable increases of conversion and ee values in the absence of expensive O‐coordinating axial bases for the asymmetric epoxidation of olefins, especially for the epoxidation of α‐methylstyrene (conversion: from 24.3% to 99.9%; ee: from 29.4% to 73.7%), which may overcome the last obstacle for the potential industry application of chiral Jacobsen’s catalyst.     

Synthesis of layered crystalline AlSPP and its immobilized chiral salen Mn(III) catalysts applicated in the large scale asymmetric epoxidation of olefins

Chiral salen Mn(III) complex was axially immobilized onto phenoxy-modified organic polymer-inorganic hybrid material layered crystalline aluminium oligo-styrenyl phosphonate-hydrogen phosphate. The prepared catalysts exhibited excellent activities and enantioselectivities for asymmetric epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins with m-chloroperbenzoic acid as oxidant, especially for the epoxidation of α-methylstyrene (conversion: up to 99 %; ee: exceed 99 %). A point worth emphasizing is that the heterogeneous catalysts afforded remarkable increases of conversions and ee values without adding axial base N-methylmorpholine N-oxide for the asymmetric epoxidation of olefins. The catalyst can be easily recovered and reused with slightly decrease of activity and enantioselectivity after seven cycles. Delightedly, this novel heterogeneous catalyst could also be efficiently used in large-scale reactions with the enantioselectivity being maintained at the same level, which provided the potentiality for application in industry.     

Styrene Epoxidation over Carbon Nanotube-Supported Gold Catalysts

Carbon nanotube supported gold catalysts prepared by deposition–precipitation with urea (DP urea) were characterized by various techniques. Its catalytic activity was examined for the oxidation of styrene using t-butylhydroperoxide as oxidant. This system showed good epoxide selectivity. The other factors, such as solvent, reaction time, concentrations of oxidant and catalyst, have also been investigated and reaction conditions are optimized. It is a novel highly active/selective and reusable heterogeneous catalyst for styrene epoxidation.     

Organo-functionalized activated carbons as supports for the covalent attachment of a chiral manganese(III) salen complex

A modified Jacobsen-type catalyst, possessing an hydroxyl group on the aldehyde fragment of the salen ligand, was anchored through cyanuric chloride onto: (i) an air oxidized activated carbon functionalized with 3-aminotriethoxysilane and (ii) a nitric acid activated carbon treated with thionyl chloride and functionalized with 1,8-diaminooctane. The new heterogeneous catalysts, as well as the precedent materials, were characterized by nitrogen elemental analysis, Mn ICP-AES, nitrogen adsorption at 77 K, TG-IR and XPS. The results showed that the amine derivatives, cyanuric chloride and the manganese(III) salen complex were sequentially anchored onto the two activated carbons (AC). These Mn based materials acted as active and enantioselective heterogeneous catalysts in the epoxidation of α-methylstyrene, using NaOCl as oxidant. The heterogenized complex showed higher catalytic activity than the homogeneous catalyst. The increase of distance of the manganese(III) salen complex to the carbon surface did not have a significant effect on the asymmetric inductions, which were lower than the homogeneous catalyst. Nevertheless, the catalyst bearing the shorter amine alkyl chain showed higher catalytic activity due to unique steric effects that prevent hindrances to diffusion of the substrates to the active catalytic sites.     

Microporosity in Mesoporous SBA-15 Supports: A Factor Influencing the Catalytic Performance of Immobilized Metalloporphyrin

MnTMPyP cationic metalloporphyrin was immobilized by means of ion exchange on a series of aluminated SBA-15 mesoporous silica supports prepared by different methods. The solids were characterized with XRD, HRTEM, HRSEM, chemical analysis, and nitrogen sorption isotherms. The catalysts were tested in the reaction of cyclohexene oxidation with iodozobenzene. It was found that immobilization significantly enhances catalytic activity as compared to the homogeneous system. In contrast to previously investigated metalloporphyrin catalysts immobilized on aluminated HMS, MCM-41 or FSM-16 type supports, where too narrow pores limited the formation of epoxide and enhanced allylic oxidation, the use of aluminated large pore SBA-15 solids favoured the epoxidation pathway and resulted in yields significantly higher than in the case of homogeneous reaction. The catalysts showed important differences in the level of allylic oxidation. Analysis of various factors potentially influencing the product distribution demonstrates that the key role in determining the contribution of allylic oxidation is the microporosity nature of the support, in particular, the lack or presence of supermicropores capable of accommodating metalloporphyrin species. The MnTMPyP centres confined in supermicropores experience steric limitations, which do not allow for the formation of epoxide and favour allylic oxidation.     

Deactivation and regeneration of TS-1/SiO2 catalyst for epoxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide in a fixed-bed reactor

TS-1/SiO₂ catalyst for the epoxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide in a fixed-bed reactor has been investigated. The catalyst activity decreases gradually with the online reaction time, but the selectivity of propylene epoxide is kept at about 93%. The fresh, deactivated and regenerated catalysts were characterized with X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultra-violet-visible diffuse reflectance, Brunner-Emmett-Teller method and thermogravimetric analysis, and the deactivated catalyst was regenerated with H₂O₂/methanol solution. Compared with the fresh catalyst, both the framework structure and the content of titanium in the framework of the deactivated and regenerated TS-1/SiO₂ catalysts were not changed. The major reason of the catalyst deactivation was the blockage of the channels of the catalyst by bulky organic by-products, which covered the active centers of titanium in TS-1. The deposited materials on the deactivated TS-1/SiO₂ catalyst could be removed by treatment with hydrogen peroxide/methanol solution or pure methanol; the higher the treatment temperature and the higher the concentration of H₂O₂ in methanol, the higher the extent of the regeneration. The regeneration treatment did not influence the product selectivity in the propylene epoxidation.     

Mn(Salen)/A1-HMS催化剂微波固相法制备及其催化性能

采用新的微波固相法制备出Mn(Salen)/Al-HMS催化剂.通过FTIR和TG的表征,结果表明,微波固相方法成功地将Mn(Salen)配合物固载于介孔Al-HMS分子筛中.以苯乙烯环氧化反应为例比较了不同方法制备的催化剂的催化性能,发现微波固相法制备的Mn(Salen)/Al-HMS-IP催化剂具有较高的催化活性和最好的环氧化物选择性,此外,考察了催化剂性能还与制备过程中的微波辐射时间、反应时间、反应溶剂、反应温度、氧化剂的用量及催化剂的重复使用对微波固相法制备的催化剂的性能影响规律,得到了满意的结果.     

Mn（Salen）／Al-HMS催化剂微波固相法制备及其催化性能

采用新的微波固相法制备出Mn(Salen)/Al-HMS催化剂。通过FT IR和TG的表征,结果表明,微波固相方法成功地将Mn(Salen)配合物固载于介孔Al-HMS分子筛中。以苯乙烯环氧化反应为例比较了不同方法制备的催化剂的催化性能,发现微波固相法制备的Mn(Salen)/Al-HMS-IP催化剂具有较高的催化活性和最好的环氧化物选择性,此外,考察了催化剂性能还与制备过程中的微波辐射时间、反应时间、反应溶剂、反应温度、氧化剂的用量及催化剂的重复使用对微波固相法制备的催化剂的性能影响规律,得到了满意的结果。     

Catalytic activity of ethylene oxidation over Au,Ag and Au–Ag catalysts: Support effect

Au, Ag and Au–Ag catalysts on different supports of alumina, titania and ceria were studied for their catalytic activity of ethylene oxidation reactions. An addition of an appropriate amount of Au on Ag/Al₂O₃ catalyst was found to enhance the catalytic activity of the ethylene epoxidation reaction because Au acts as a diluting agent on the Ag surface creating new single silver sites which favor molecular oxygen adsorption. The Ag catalysts on both titania and ceria supports exhibited very poor catalytic activity toward the epoxidation reaction of ethylene, so pure Au catalysts on these two supports were investigated. The Au/TiO₂ catalysts provided the highest selectivity of ethylene oxide with relatively low ethylene conversion whereas, the Au/CeO₂ catalysts was shown to favor the total oxidation reaction over the epoxidation reaction at very low temperatures. In comparisons among the studied catalysts, the bimetallic Au–Ag/Al₂O₃ catalyst is the best candidate for the ethylene epoxidation. The catalytic activity of the gold catalysts was found to depend on the support material and catalyst preparation method which govern the Au particle size and the interaction between the Au particles and the support.     

Preparation of Titanium-Containing Carbon–Silica Composite Catalysts and Their Liquid-Phase Epoxidation Activity

Titanium-containing catalysts have been prepared by two different post-synthesis methods using activated carbon and carbon-silica composite as catalyst supports. They have been applied to the liquid-phase epoxidation of cyclohexene with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and H₂O₂. The carbon-silica composite catalyst showed a high conversion and selectivity to epoxide compared to the Ti-carbon catalyst and silica-based catalysts for the cyclohexene epoxidation with H₂O₂. The highest values of cyclohexene conversion and epoxide selectivity were obtained with the carbon-silica composite catalyst having a titanium content of 3 wt%.     

Immobilization of new Mn(salen) complex over MCM-41 and its activity in asymmetric epoxidation of styrene

New tetradentate chelates of bis-Schiff bases were synthesized and then these chiral salen ligands were immobilized over mesoporous MCM-41 by using the ion-exchange method. The efficiency of the chiral catalyst was examined in the asymmetric epoxidation of styrene. Chiral Mn(salen) complexes immobilized onto mesoporous MCM-41 were stable during the reaction without any leaching and exhibited relatively high enantioselectivity for epoxidation as compared with homogeneous complexes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Epoxidation of Cyclohexene with Air over the Composite Catalysts of Mn-mont Coordinated with Ligands

The catalytic activity of the composite catalysts of Mn-mont (where mont represents montmorillonite) coordinated with ligands for the epoxidation of cyclohexene by air under Mukaiyama conditions was studied. The composite catalysts were characterized by atomic absorption spectroscopic analysis, elemental analysis, fourier transform infrared spectra, diffuse reflectance ultraviolet visible spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, powder-X-ray-diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy measurements. The effects of various reaction conditions on the catalytic reaction were studied. Experimental results indicated that the catalysts performed excellent activity for the epoxidation of cyclohexene by air. Repeated runs indicate that the catalyst is stable for 3 cycles. The composite catalysts of Mn-mont coordinated with ligands are economical and environmentally friendly for the epoxidation of cyclohexene.     

Epoxidation of Styrene by Anhydrous t-Butyl Hydroperoxide over Au/TiO2 Catalysts

Nanosize gold deposited on TiO₂, by homogeneous deposition-precipitation (HDP) using urea as the precipitation agent is an active/selective and reusable catalyst for the epoxidation of styrene (at 82°C) by anhydrous t-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP). The activity and epoxide selectivity of the Au/TiO₂ catalyst in the epoxidation is increased with increasing the Au loading on the TiO₂ support. The Au/TiO₂catalyst prepared by the deposition precipitation using sodium hydroxide as the precipitation agent (DP method) has much lower gold loading and also lower Au dispersion and consequently possesses lower epoxidation activity as compared to that prepared by the HDP method. The styrene oxide selectivity is not influenced very significantly by the catalyst preparation method or by the Au loading (except at the very low Au loading). In the Au/TiO₂ catalysts prepared by both the methods, Au is found to exist in both the metallic (Au°) and cationic (Au³⁺) forms.     

Chiral manganese(III) Schiff base complexes anchored onto activated carbon as enantioselective heterogeneous catalysts for alkene epoxidation

Two chiral manganese(III) salen catalysts, bearing different chiral diamine bridges, were anchored by direct axial coordination of the metal centre onto the phenolate groups of a modified commercial activated carbon. The modification of the activated carbon was achieved by reaction between sodium hydroxide and surface phenol groups giving rise to phenolate groups (CoxONa), which were characterised by XPS, TG and TG-IR. Characterisation of immobilised manganese(III) salen catalysts onto CoxONa material by XPS, ICP-AES and TG-IR clearly point to reaction between carbon surface phenolate groups and the manganese(III) complexes through axial coordination of the metal centre to these groups.These materials were active and enantioselective in the epoxidation of styrene and α-methylstyrene in dichloromethane at 0 °C using, respectively, m-CPBA/NMO and NaOCl. Only for α-methylstyrene comparable asymmetric inductions were found in the epoxide as the homogeneous phase reactions and catalyst reuse led to no significant loss of catalytic activity and enantioselectivity.     

Regeneration of Lamina TS-1 Catalyst in the Epoxidation of Propylene with Hydrogen Peroxide

The deactivation and regeneration of the lamina titanium silicalite (TS-1) catalyst for the epoxidation of propylene with dilute H₂O₂was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor. In the scale-up experiment, the dosage of the lamina TS-1 catalyst is 2. 5 kg, after 1000 h reaction the catalyst still exhibits good performance and further increases the reaction time, the conversion of H₂O₂begins to decrease. TG and BET analyses of the deactivated catalysts show that the main species occluded within the zeolite pore are propylene oxide oligomers, and these species occupying the active Ti site and blocking the pores of the lamina TS-1 are the main reason for the deactivation of catalyst. The deactivated catalyst can be regenerated by different regeneration methods. The activity of deactivated catalysts regenerated by dilute H₂O₂or heat treatment by using air or nitrogen as a calcination media can be fully recovered, but a decline in propylene oxide (PO) selectivity of the regenerated catalyst has been observed during the first hours of reaction. However, water vapor treatment of the deactivated catalyst can improve the PO selectivity with the same activity as that of the fresh lamina TS-1 catalyst.     

Titanium-based solid catalysts for transesterification of methyl-methacrylate by 1-butanol: the homogeneous catalysis contribution

Titanium-based solid catalysts were prepared according to two different procedures. In order to improve the stability of the SiOTi bond in the titanium grafted silica catalysts, the surface remaining hydroxyl groups were passivated to prevent the titanium leaching by SiOTi bond solvolysis. This was performed by grafting trimethoxy-silane groups on isolated silanols of silica, after or before metal grafting. The synthesised materials were characterised by FT-IR spectroscopy, and their catalytic properties evaluated in the reaction of transesterification of methyl-methacrylate (MMA) with 1-butanol (BuOH) in liquid phase to produce butyl-methacrylate (BuMA). An important titanium leaching (18–35%) was always detected with all the solid catalysts.

Investigation of the behaviour of Ti(OBu)₄ as homogeneous catalyst for very small concentrations of titanium was carried out in order to evaluate the catalytic contribution of the active dissolved species. We demonstrate here that the catalytic activity is mainly due to the homogeneous catalysis.     

Catalytic epoxidation with electrochemically in situ generated hydrogen peroxide

The epoxidation of allyl alcohol with in situ generated hydrogen peroxide was performed in an electrochemical cell with a trickle-bed electrode, composed of carbon black, graphite, PTFE and titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) as heterogeneous epoxidation catalyst. Mass transport in interaction with the catalytic activity limits the epoxidation rate. The conversion of allyl alcohol increases with increase in the content of epoxidation catalyst in the electrode. In contrast, the specific reaction rate decreases due to the reduced accessibility of active sites in the catalyst.     

EPOXIDATION OF FUNCTIONALIZED OLEFINS OVER SOLID CATALYSTS

Heterogeneous catalytic epoxidation of functionalized olefins in the liquid phase has been reviewed, focusing on catalyst performance and its interrelation with the crucial parameters of the catalytic systems. Efficient catalysts include supported and mixed oxides, framework-substituted (“redox”) molecular sieves, layered-type materials, heterogenized homogeneous catalysts, and some others. Among the various substrates, allylic and homoallylic alcohols, and unsaturated carbonyl compounds have received most attention so far. The great variety of available catalysts enables selective epoxidation of most substituted olefins. The mechanistic understanding of heterogeneous catalytic epoxidation is still underdeveloped, rendering catalyst design rather empirical. A considerable potential for future development lies in the area of “heterogenization” of successful homogeneous catalysts especially for asymmetric epoxidation. Crucial requirements in the development of heterogeneous catalytic epoxidation catalysts are, besides good catalytic performance and cheap oxidant, recyclability and resistance to leaching of the active component. Some of the examples shown in the literature do not fulfill the latter requirement.