Epoxidation of Styrene over a Titanium Silicate Molecular Sieve TS1 Using Dilute H<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>2</SUB> as Oxidizing Agent

The epoxidation of styrene was studied using a titanium silicate molecular sieve TS-1 as catalyst and dilute (25%) H₂O₂ as oxidizing agent. Mainly two types of reactions were observed: The major reaction (~75-85 mole%) was epoxidation and its further isomerization into phenylacetaldehyde. The other reaction was oxidative cleavage into benzaldehyde (~10-20 mole%). While generally the products were analyzed by capillary GC and GCMS, in certain cases, the products were separated and isolated by column chromatography and analyzed by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. Polar and nonpolar solvents have marked influence on product distribution in styrene epoxidation. In methanol, a significant part of styrene epoxide undergoes alcoholysis through the addition of methanol forming 2-methoxy-2-phenyl-ethanol. The influence of reaction time, temperature, and styrene/H₂O₂ molar ratio on the conversion and product distribution was also studied.Copyright 1995, 1999 Academic Press, Inc.