Synthesis of Ti-MCM-41 using colloidal silica and titanium trichloride III. Catalytic activity of Ti-MCM-41 molecular sieve

The catalytic properties of the Ti-MCM-41 molecular sieve synthesized from colloidal silica and TiCl₃ were tested in the epoxidation of styrene, α-methyl styrene and cyclohexene using 30% H₂O₂ solution as the oxidant. The catalysts show excellent catalytic properties and the substrate conversion and the product selectivity are comparable with those in the case of Ti-MCM-41 synthesized from organic precursors. The results obtained from the three olefins with different structure indicate that the main procedure of the oxidation of olefins with terminal C = C bond is the oxidative cleavage, while that of cyclohexene is the epoxidation.