Heterogeneous Ag-TiO2-SiO2 composite materials as novel catalytic systems for selective epoxidation of cyclohexene by H2O2

PLoS One. 2017 May 11;12(5):e0176332. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176332. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

TiO2-SiO2 composites were synthesized using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the structure directing template. Self-assembly hexadecyltrimethyl- ammonium bromide TiO2-SiO2/(CTAB) were soaked into silver nitrate (AgNO3) aqueous solution. The Ag-TiO2-SiO2(Ag-TS) composite were prepared via a precipitation of AgBr in soaking process and its decomposition at calcination stage. Structural characterization of the materials was carried out by various techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption-desorption and ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). Characterization results revealed that Ag particles were incorporated into hierarchical TiO2-SiO2 without significantly affecting the structures of the supports. Further heating-treatment at 723 K was more favorable for enhancing the stability of the Ag-TS composite. The cyclohexene oxide was the major product in the epoxidation using H2O2 as the oxidant over the Ag-TS catalysts. Besides, the optimum catalytic activity and stability of Ag-TS catalysts were obtained under operational conditions of calcined at 723 K for 2 h, reaction time of 120 min, reaction temperature of 353 K, catalyst amount of 80 mg, aqueous H2O2 (30 wt.%) as oxidant and chloroform as solvent. High catalytic activity with conversion rate up to 99.2% of cyclohexene oxide could be obtainable in water-bathing. The catalyst was found to be stable and could be reused three times without significant loss of catalytic activity under the optimized reaction conditions.

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Bromides / chemistry
  • Catalysis
  • Cyclohexenes / chemistry*
  • Hydrogen Peroxide / chemistry
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Silicon Dioxide / chemistry*
  • Silver / chemistry*
  • Titanium / chemistry*
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Bromides
  • Cyclohexenes
  • cyclohexene
  • titanium dioxide
  • Silver
  • Silicon Dioxide
  • Hydrogen Peroxide
  • Titanium

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No. KJ2013B161) to XW, the Special Project of the Scientific Research Institute Foundation (No. XLY-201319) to XW and the Dr. Scientific Research Foundation of Chaohu University to XW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.