Synthesis of Mesostructured Materials of Different Heteroatoms and Their Catalytic Performances for Styrene Epoxidation

FeS-1, VS-1 or CuS-1 precursors are loaded and highly dispersed on the surface of mesoporous materials SBA-15, MCM-41 or SiO2 by impregnating method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, TEM and N2 adsorption. Their catalytic performances for styrene epoxidation with anhydrous TBHP as an oxidant agent were studied. The results suggest that zeolite primary and secondary building units are highly dispersed on the samples and the samples have still retained mesoporous structure. All of the catalysts exhibit good catalytic activities, producing styrene oxide and benzaldehyde as the main products. Cu/SBA-15 shows high activity and selectivity, which are comparable with that of other samples. We find that, under the conditions of preferable precursors, n(TBHP)/n(styrene) =1.5, reaction temperature 80°C, and reaction time 2.0h, the conversion and yield of styrene epoxide reached 65.9% and 42.2%, respectively.