Novel Efficient Synthesis of Glycol Monoethers over Highly Active Tungsten-Containing Mesoporous Molecular Sieve SBA-15

Abstract

A tungsten-containing mesoporous molecular sieve SBA-15 (W-SBA-15) was synthesized directly by the hydrolysis of tetraethylorthosilicate and ammonium tungstate with triblock copolymer EO20PO70EO20(P123) as template in acidic medium. The W-SBA-15 was characterized by XRD, N2adsorption/desorption, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and ICP-AES spectrometry. The W-SBA-15 exhibited high catalytic activity for the hydroxylation of cyclohexene with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidant. The complete conversion of cyclohexene into glycol monoethers with very high selectivity (92.6%) were obtained over the W-SBA-15 catalyst.