Efficient and clean epoxidation of methyl oleate to epoxidized methyl oleate catalyzed by external surface of TS-1 supported molybdenum catalysts

Methyl oleate (MO) macromolecules are unable to access the microporous channel of conventional titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) zeolite, which leads to the low catalytic activity of epoxidation of MO. Herein, the small-size TS-1 (TS-1-s) zeolite with a large surface area was synthesized successfully through steam-assisted crystallization, and then a novel blocked TS-1-s supported molybdenum (Mo/TS-1-bs) catalysts were prepared for efficient epoxidation of MO with clean H2O2 to produce epoxidized methyl oleate (EMO). Various characterization results show the introduced Mo species are highly dispersed on the outer surface of TS-1-s without destroying the structure of the MFI type zeolite and the tetrahedral framework titanium (Ti4+). Interestingly, a large number of Mo6+ species exhibit certain epoxidation activity attributing to the generating of electrophilic molybdenum hydroperoxide (Mo–OOH) species via Mo species combined with H2O2, which could adsorb and react easily with MO molecules. Furthermore, the Mo species are also coordinated with Ti4+ species through the O atom resulting in the facile attack of the Ti–O bonds by H2O2 and easy to form an active intermediate. Therefore, compared with the conventional TS-1, the Mo/TS-1-bs shows higher catalytic activity in the epoxidation reaction. However, the acidity of Mo/TS-1-bs catalysts increases with increasing the Mo-loading owing to the formation of Lewis acid, which leads to the side reactions and the decrease of EMO selectivity. As a consequence, the efficient, non-corrosive and green catalytic system for epoxidation of MO was developed, and the activity improvement of Mo species and the influence of acid were also demonstrated.