SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERISATION OF TITANOSILICATES USED AS CATALYSTS FOR THE EPOXIDATION OF CYCLOHEXENE

Summary In this work the synthesis of TS-1 from a titanosilicate cogel precursor is reported. The synthesis parameters were altered to optimise both the cogel and resultant framework material. The titanosilicate materials were characterised using a range of techniques including EDX analysis, XRD, 29 Si NMR, IR, UV-vis and SEM. Those materials which demonstrated the most catalytic potential were used as catalysts for the epoxidation of cyclohexene reaction, in which the use of aqueous H 2 O 2 and a urea-H 2 O 2 adduct were compared. It was shown that the cogel precursors themselves exhibited some catalytic reactivity and selectivity for all of the catalysis reactions exploited. However the TS-1 materials were more catalytically active, which highlighted the need of the ordered framework for the most eff ective catalysis. The TS-1 materials prepared from the cogel precursors exhibited similar catalytic ability to those analogous standard materials prepared via conventional processes. Thus TS-1 preparation by the cogel route was shown to be a viable alternative preparation method to the conventional process.