Indene epoxidation over titanium modified MCM-41 mesoporous materials

Abstract

The current research is focused on the testing of titanium modified MCM-41 in indene epoxidation. Two preparation methods of Ti catalysts with mesoporous structure were tested, namely grafting of titanium on prepared MCM-41 (Ti/MCM-41/gr) and incorporation of titanium into the structure of MCM-41 by co-gelification method (Ti-MCM-41/cg). The tested catalysts exhibited high surface area, well-defined regular structure and narrow pore size distribution of mesopores and therefore represent potential good quality catalytic systems. The successful preparation of catalysts was confirmed by wide range of characterization methods (XRF, XRD, physical adsorption of N₂, SEM, UV–Vis and FTIR). The catalytic activity of the prepared Ti catalysts was evaluated in indene epoxidation. The optimization of reaction conditions was performed using two types of oxidizing agents—aqueous solution of tert-butyl hydroperoxide and solution of tert-butyl hydroperoxide in decane. The prepared catalytic systems were successfully used for preparation of 1,2-epoxyindane with high yield (83 %) and the possibility of catalyst regeneration was proved.