Hydrothermally robust Ti/SiO2 epoxidation catalysts via surface modification with oligomeric PMHS

Abstract We investigate grafting of poly(methylhydrosiloxane) (PMHS) onto Ti/SiO2 catalysts for improving their robustness to water, using olefin epoxidation catalysis with organic hydroperoxide as oxidant as a relevant probe reaction. Our approach involves triggering catalyst deactivation with added water in the reactants as a means to simulate catalyst deactivation, thereby causing grafted Ti-site aggregation. When using harsh aqueous Soxhlet extraction conditions as a trigger for this aggregation, significant differences are observed via diffuse-reflectance UV–vis spectrscopy on samples before and after treatment, for Ti/SiO2 catalysts containing grafted PMHS. Not only was there a lack of appearance of red-shifted bands in the UV-Vis spectrum following Soxhlet extraction, the batch catalytic activity for catalysts before and after PMHS grafting remained virtually unchanged. This was in stark contrast to an unmodified Ti/SiO2 catalyst, which showed a more than 60% decrease in catalytic activity following Soxhlet extraction as a result of aggregation, as ascertained by red shifts in its UV–vis spectrum after Soxhlet extraction. Similar red shifts were also observed for a hydrophobically modified TMS Ti/SiO2 catalyst. However, when comparing these catalysts under more gentle olefin epoxidation catalysis conditions with added water in a flow reactor, it was more difficult to differentiate the TMS Ti/SiO2 and grafted PMHS catalysts. Both catalysts exhibited similar activity and selectivity after a prolonged time on stream, though the rate of initial deactivation in the latter was less pronounced. Altogether, our data demonstrate that grafted PMHS catalysts are positively differentiated from conventional catalysts based on either TMS surface modification or no surface modification, under conditions involving aggregation induced via extreme hydrothermal environmentst. Thus, we expect that PMHS grafting of Lewis acid catalysts can offer an alternative approach for endowing hydrolytic stability to such catalysts, as demonstrated here for Ti/SiO2 epoxidation catalysts.