Role of pentahedrally coordinated titanium in titanium silicalite-1 in propene epoxidation

Two titanium silicalite-1 samples with different crystal sizes were synthesized in the tetrapropylammonium bromide (TPABr) and tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) hydrothermal systems. The small-crystal TS-1 with a size of 600 nm was then treated with different organic bases. These TS-1 samples were evaluated in the epoxidation of propene, and characterized by ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance (UV-vis), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and Raman spectroscopies. The Ti L-edge absorption spectra show that a new Ti species, pentahedrally coordinated Ti, appears in some of the samples. This pentahedrally coordinated Ti species is correlated with the catalytic oxidation activity of TS-1, closely. Tetrahedrally coordinated Ti in TS-1 is the primary active center for selective oxidation reactions, but the existence of a small amount of pentahedrally coordinated Ti can further improve the catalytic activity. A high molar ratio of Si/Ti (n(Si/Ti)) in the synthesis process (n(Si/Ti) = 92.78) was beneficial for the generation of pentahedrally coordinated Ti. The improved catalytic activity of the TPAOH treated TS-1 is mainly due to the increasing amount of pentahedrally coordinated Ti, besides the elimination of diffusion limitation. Slowing down the crystallization rate can also increase the content of pentahedrally coordinated Ti.