One-step synthesis of hierarchical Ti-MCM-41/MFI composites for cyclohexene epoxidation reactions

The successful one-pot synthesis of MCM-41/MFI composite is mainly concentrated on the trivalent heteroatom of Al 3+ and Fe 3+ , however there are almost no reports about the one-pot synthesis of Ti-MCM-41/MFI composite. In this work, we reported the one-pot synthesis of Ti-MCM-41/MFI composite with a temperature-gradient hydrothermal strategy using hexadecyl trimethylammonium bromide CTAB and silicalite-1 seed as structure directing agents as well as ammonia solution as alkali source, and its application as heterogeneous catalyst in the cyclohexene epoxidation reactions. The impact of Si/Ti molar ratio and ammonia dosage as well as CTAB amount on the formation and property of Ti-MCM-41/MFI composite were systematically investigated. In addition, a possible partial transformation mechanism of Ti-MCM-41/MFI composite sample was proposed. The synthesized Ti-HMZ-50-N3.77-Se0.05 sample with ordered mesoporous structure and high content of framework titanium active centers revealed the eminent cyclohexene epoxidation performance, achieving a 32.51 % of cyclohexene conversion and a 61.27 % selectivity of cyclohexene oxide within 5 h of reaction.