Catalytic system for epoxidation of alkenes employing low sodium catalyst supports

摘要

A process is provided for the epoxidation of an alkene in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas which comprises contacting the alkene and the oxygen-containing gas under epoxidation conditions in the presence of at least one efficiency-enhancing gaseous member of a redox- half reaction pair and a solid catalyst, the catalyst comprising a catalytically- effective amount of silver on a solid support and an efficiency-enhancing amount of at least one efficiency-enhancing salt of a member of a redox- half reaction pair, the support having less than about 50 ppm, by weight, of leachable sodium.