Mesoporous Zr-MCM-41 and Ti-MCM-41 as Solid Oxidation Catalysts in the synthesis of Epichlorohydrin

摘要

Mesoporous Zr-MCM-41 and Ti-MCM-41 have been synthesized at room temperature by sol-gel method using templates possessing high surface area, good thermal stability and maximum M4+ incorporation varying SiO2:ZrO2/TiO2 ratios. The salient feature is synthesis of the materials at room temperature. Both the synthesized materials have been characterized for elemental analysis by ICP-AES, XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX, surface area (by BET method), pore volume and pore distribution (BJH method), UV-DRS, FTIR and TGA. Further, the catalytic potential of both the materials have been compared by studying epoxidation as a model reaction using H2O2 as an oxidant in the conversion of allyl chloride to selectively produce epichlorohydrin in a single step at room temperature by varying several parameters such as catalyst amount, reaction time, types of oxidants including catalyst regeneration and reuse.