# Patent

## Title
Methods of producing epoxides from alkenes using a two-component catalyst system

## Abstract

Methods for the epoxidation of alkenes are provided. The methods include the steps of exposing the alkene to a two-component catalyst system in an aqueous solution in the presence of carbon monoxide and molecular oxygen under conditions in which the alkene is epoxidized. The two-component catalyst system comprises a first catalyst that generates peroxides or peroxy intermediates during oxidation of CO with molecular oxygen and a second catalyst that catalyzes the epoxidation of the alkene using the peroxides or peroxy intermediates. A catalyst system composed of particles of suspended gold and titanium silicalite is one example of a suitable two-component catalyst system.

## Background
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This applications claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/259,828, filed on Nov. 10, 2009, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.


STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
This invention was made with government support under DE-FG02-01ER15184 awarded by Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in the invention.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Epoxides are important intermediates for chemicals synthesis. They are precursors to large volume commodity chemicals such as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol that can be used as solvents, polymers such as polypropylene oxide, and many enantiomeric molecules that are intermediates for pharmaceutical and natural products synthesis. They are produced by selective oxidation of the corresponding alkenes via insertion of an oxygen atom across the carbon-carbon double bond. The common oxygen sources are peroxides, hydroperoxides, oxychlorides, and oxometal complexes. While effective, these reagents are expensive and their use is not environmentally friendly, generating significant amounts of unwanted byproducts. A much more desirable oxidant is molecular oxygen. To date, however, success in epoxidation with molecular oxygen is limited to activated terminal alkenes or alkenes without allylic hydrogens, such as ethylene and butadiene. (See R. B. Grant, and R. M. Lambert, Mechanism of the silver-catalyzed heterogeneous epoxidation of ethylene, Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (1983) 662-3 and J. W. Medlin, J. R. Monnier, and M. A. Barteau, Deuterium Kinetic Isotope Effects in Butadiene Epoxidation over Unpromoted and Cs-Promoted Silver Catalysts, Journal of Catalysis 204 (2001) 71-76). Epoxidation of, for example, propene, could be achieved with reasonable yields only by using oxidants such as nitrous oxide or hydrogen peroxide. (See E. Ananieva and A. Reitzmann, Direct gas-phase epoxidation of propene with nitrous oxide over modified silica supported FeOx catalysts, Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 5509-5517; T. Thoemmes, S. Zuercher, A. Wix, A. Reitzmann, and B. Kraushaar-Czarnetzki, Catalytic vapour phase epoxidation of propene with nitrous oxide as an oxidant, Applied Catalysis, A: General 318 (2007) 160-169; and L. Y. Chen, G. K. Chuah, and S. Jaenicke, Propylene epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by molecular sieves containing framework titanium, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical 132 (1998) 281-292.)
There has been limited success in the epoxidation of unactivated alkenes with molecular oxygen because it is such a demanding reaction. Known commercial processes are the Ag catalyzed epoxidation of ethylene and butadiene. (See R. B. Grant and R. M Lambert, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1983, 662 and J. Will Medlin, John R. Monnier and Mark A. Barteau, J. Catal., (2001) 204, 71). These catalytic processes however fail when the alkene possesses allylic hydrogen. Recently, there has been extensive exploration using supported Au catalyst for alkene epoxidation with molecular O2. These studies fall into three classes, those with molecular O2 alone, those with the addition of peroxy initiator, and those that require a sacrificial reductant. Very low yields of propene epoxidation were observed using H2O, O2, and C3H6 over Au/TiO2 catalysts. Turner et. al. reported epoxidation of styrene to benzaldehyde, styrene epoxide and acetopheneone over Au55 clusters. (See M. Ojeda and E. Iglesia, Chem. Commun. (Cambridge, U. K.), 2009, 352 and M. Turner, V. B. Golovko, O. P. H. Vaughan, P. Abdulkin, A. Berenguer-Murcia, M. S. Tikhov, B. F. G. Johnson and R. M. Lambert, Nature (London, U. K.), 2008, 454, 981). However, the activity and the selectivity for epoxide were low. The addition of a peroxy initiator accelerated the epoxidation reaction, but the product distribution appeared to be very solvent dependent. (See M. D. Hughes, Y.-J. Xu, P. Jenkins, P. McMorn, P. Landon, D. I. Enache, A. F. Carley, G. A. Attard, G. J. Hutchings, F. King, E. H. Stitt, P. Johnston, K. Griffin and C. J. Kiely, Nature (London, U. K.), 2005, 437, 1132). Perhaps the most intensely studied system is one in which H2 was included as a sacrificial reductant, and the catalysts used were Au/TiO2, Au/TS-1 and Au/MCM-41 and Au—Ba/Ti-TUD. (See E. E. Stangland, K. B. Stavens, R. P. Andres and W. N. Delgass, J. Catal., 2000, 191, 332; A. K. Sinha, S. Seelan, S. Tsubota, and M. Haruta, Topics in Catalysis, 2004, 29, 95; and J. J. Bravo-Suarez, K. K. Bando, J. Lu, M. Haruta, T. Fujitani and S. T. Oyama, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2008, 112, 1115). The proposed mechanism for these catalysts involves the formation of H2O2 on the Au active site and the migration of the peroxide onto neighboring Ti to form Ti hydroperoxy species which can donate an [O] atom to propylene to form propylene epoxide. (See J. J. Bravo-Suarez, K. K. Bando, J. Lu, M. Haruta, T. Fujitani and S. T. Oyama, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2008, 112, 1115).
A recent report by Ketchie et. al. suggested an alternate route to generate H2O2 without using H2 (See Ketchie, W. C., Murayama, M., and Davis, R. J., Topics in Catalysis, 44 (1-2), 307 (2007). They found that during the Au-catalyzed CO oxidation in water at ambient temperature, H2O2 was formed in the aqueous phase.
BRIEF SUMMARY
Methods for the epoxidation of alkenes are provided. The methods include the steps of exposing the alkene to a two-component catalyst system in an aqueous solution, in the presence of carbon monoxide and molecular oxygen, under conditions in which the alkene is epoxidized. The two-component catalyst system comprises a first catalyst that generates peroxides or peroxy intermediates during oxidation of CO with molecular oxygen and a second catalyst that catalyzes the epoxidation of the alkene using the peroxides or peroxy intermediates. A catalyst system composed of particles of suspended gold and titanium silicalite is one example of a suitable two-component catalyst system.
The methods can be conducted at low temperatures and can be used to produce epoxides very selectively. In some embodiments the epoxidation is carried out at a temperature of no greater than about 50° C. (e.g., no greater than about 40° C.). In some embodiments the epoxide is produced with at least 80% selectively. This includes embodiments in which the epoxide is produced with at least 90% selectively and further includes embodiments in which the epoxide is produced with at least 99% selectively.
The aqueous solvent system is desirably a mixture of water and an alcohol, such as methanol or ethanol. The ratio of alcohol to water in the mixture is desirably at least 4:1 by volume. For example, the ratio can be from about 4:1 to about 40:1.
The methods are particularly well-suited for the epoxidation of alkenes having at least one allylic hydrogen, such as butene or propene. The methods can be carried out in the absence of H2 gas and peroxy initiators.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows (a) % CO conversion and (b) efficiency of EOxs as a function of time for Example 1. Reaction condition: 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2 and balance He over Au/TiO2 catalyst at 25° C.
FIG. 2 shows (a) % CO conversions and (b) EOxs over Au/TiO2 catalyst at 40° C. for Example 1. ⋄: feed contains 2.5% CO and 1.25% O2 in He; : feed contains 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2 and 1.25% C4H8 in He.
FIG. 3 shows (a) % CO and O2 conversions, (b) EOxs and (c) ROxs over Au/TiO2+TS-1 binary catalytic system at 40° C. for Example 1. □: O2 conversion, Δ: CO conversion; ⋄: EOxs, O: ROxs. Each shaded set for 3(a), (b) and (c) corresponds to the same run.
FIG. 4 shows the rates of butene consumption and butene 1,2-epoxide formation as observed in the gas phase in Example 1.
FIG. 5 shows conversions as a function of time on stream over Au/TiO2+TS-1 in the aqueous phase at 40° C. for Example 1. □ O2, Δ CO, ⋄ 1-butene.
FIG. 6 shows the flame ionization detector (FID) trace from a filtered liquid reaction product at the end of a typical experiment with 18O labeled water and methanol (5:95) (Example 2). Reaction conditions: total pressure 480 kPa, temperature 40° C., 40 mL min−1 total flowrate, 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2, 1.6% propene, balance He. The MS patterns for the four peaks labeled 1 to 4 are shown below the trace. The pattern for peak 1 matches that of propene (retention time 1.70 min), peak 2 propene oxide-16O (retention time 2.06 min), peak 3 acetone, mostly labeled with 18O (retention time 2.39 min), and peak 4 methanol-16O (retention time 3.15 min).
FIG. 7 shows mass spectrometry (MS) patterns of propene oxide from various sources (Example 2). The top two are propene oxide (PO) from experiments using H216O (left) and H218O (right). Reaction conditions: 95:5 MeOH:H2O, total pressure 480 kPa, temperature 40° C., 40 mL min−1 total flowrate, 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2, 1.6% propene, balance He. The one labeled “PO from H218O flooding expt” is the cracking pattern of propene oxide from a solution of propene oxide in 18O labeled water. “Water peak from H218O exp” is the pattern of the water peak eluted from the GC column, The bottom two patterns are PO standards injected as pure compound (left) of a 6 mM solution in methanol.
FIG. 8 shows the MS patterns of various standards injected as pure compounds into the GC-MS (Example 2).
FIG. 9 shows the rates of (a) extra O consumption, ROxs, and (b) O atom (=2×O2, ▪) and CO (⋄) consumption (Example 2). Catalyst: Au/TiO2+TS-1, 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2 and 6.6% C3H6, balance He, 40° C. At time zero, the catalyst mixture was lowered into the solvent (CH3OH:H2O=80:20).
FIG. 10 shows Schemes 1 and 2: Proposed mechanisms for formation of oxygen-carrying intermediate (Example 2).



DETAILED DESCRIPTION
One aspect of the invention provides a method for the epoxidation of unsaturated hydrocarbons, particularly hydrocarbons having at least one allylic hydrogen. In one embodiment of the present methods, highly selective epoxidation of alkenes, including propene and butene, can be achieved using molecular oxygen in water, or in a dilute solution of water in an alcohol, catalyzed by a suspension of a two-component catalyst system. The methods can be carried out in the absence of H2 and in the absence of peroxy initiators. In these methods, CO is consumed as a sacrificial reductant, but can be regenerated from the byproduct CO2 using known processes such as reverse water-gas shift, resulting in an overall environmentally very friendly and easily scalable process. As such, the present methods can provide an environmentally friendly method to generate alkyl peroxides in situ that can be used to synthesize organic epoxides, replacing the use of expensive and environmentally unfriendly organic hydroperoxides. In a solvent comprising a mixture of water and methanol, selective ( ̃100% selective) production of epoxide can be achieved.
The two-component catalyst system includes a first catalyst that generates peroxides, such as hydrogen peroxide or alkyl peroxides, or peroxy intermediates during oxidation of CO with molecular oxygen in the presence of an aqueous solvent or alcohol-water mixture and a second catalyst that catalyzes the epoxidation of alkenes using the peroxides or peroxy intermediates. For example, one catalyst system is a mixture of Au/TiO2 (i.e., particles of gold supported on titanium dioxide) and titanium silicalite (TS-1). In this system, the Au/TiO2, having low temperature CO oxidation activity, would generate H2O2 or ROOH, which would be used by the TS-1 for epoxidation. The two catalyst components can be present in two separate phases (as shown by the examples, below), or as a composite.
Other than titanium silicalite, other catalysts active in catalyzing epoxidation of alkenes using peroxides can be used. This includes vanadium substituted silicalite, manganese substituted zeolites, titanium substituted silsequioxane, oxorhenium complexes, and the like, provided that they are stable under the reaction conditions and not highly active in decomposing peroxides. Other supports for the metal (e.g., Au) catalyst also can be used, including carbon, magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, or mixed oxides such as titanium-silica oxide. The oxide support should be selected such that it is not active in decomposing hydrogen peroxide or organic peroxide, catalyzing hydrolysis of or isomerization of epoxides, polymerization of epoxides, or any undesirable reactions of epoxides including oxidation or solvolysis.
Conducting the epoxidation in an alcohol-water mixture, such as a methanol-water mixture is preferable to carrying out the epoxidation in water, which results in the production of a substantial fraction of glycol, rather than epoxide, due to hydrolysis of the epoxide. The use of an alcohol-water solvent mixture is also preferable to an anhydrous methanol solvent, which fails to produce epoxide.
In addition to methanol, other alcohols that are miscible with water can be used in the solvent mixture. Optionally, other organic solvents that are miscible with water and alcohol also can be present in the solvent mixture, such as tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane, dimethylsulfoxide, acetone, ethers, and ketones. Such solvents can assist in enhancing the solubility of the reactants.
The following examples illustrate embodiments of the present methods for the epoxidation of butene and propene.
EXAMPLES
Example 1
In this example, a combination of two catalysts, Au/TiO2 and TS-1 were used to catalyze the demanding reaction of butene epoxidation in an aqueous solution using molecular oxygen under very mild reaction conditions. Peroxy initiator was not necessary but carbon monoxide as a sacrificial reductant was used.
Methods
The two different batches of Au/TiO2 catalysts used in the reaction (denoted Au/TiO2-02-4 and Au/TiO2-02-9) were supplied by the World Gold Council. There was no observable difference in their catalytic performance. The Au loadings of Au/TiO2-02-4 and Au/TiO2-02-9 were 1.51 and 1.49 wt. % and the average Au particle sizes were 3.8±1.5 nm and 3.6±1.32 nm, respectively. TS-1 was synthesized using the method of Thangaraj et al. (See A. Thangaraj, R. Kumar, S. P. Mirajkar and P. Ratnasamy, J. of Catal., 1991, 130, 1). Diffuse reflectance UV visible spectroscopy (Perkin Elmer LAMBDA 1050) was used to verify the absence of extra framework Ti. The silicalite sample was synthesized using the same procedure as for TS-1, except that TiBuOH was omitted.
The epoxidation reaction was carried out in a high pressure glass reactor (Cole-Parmer) which contained 50 mL of ion-exchanged distilled water (DDI H2O, pH ̃5.5). The reactor was maintained at 40° C. (except when specified). The gas feed composition, 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2 and 1.25% 1-butene, balance He, was adjusted using 5850E Brooks flow controllers. 40 mL min−1 of the feed gas was directed into the aqueous phase through a 5 μm stainless steel porous frit (Scientific Instrument Services). The pressure in the vessel was maintained at 480 kPa with a back pressure regulator (Mighty Mite). The experiments were started with the catalysts (0.1 g Au/TiO2±0.15 g TS-1) placed above the liquid level in a small polyethylene cup with a small magnet in the cup and held in place by a rare earth magnet placed outside the reactor. At a predetermined time (defined as time=0), the rare earth magnet was used to guide the cup into the water, thereby initiating the aqueous phase catalytic reaction. After the reaction, 50 mL of H2O was used to replace the H2O-catalysts mixture and the feed was again introduced at 480 kPa to calibrate the gas chromatography (GC) areas of the different components of the feed. The exit gas from the reactor was monitored with on-line GC. All liquid products were separated from the solid catalysts by filtration through a 0.2 μm polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane (Pall) and analyzed with an Agilent 6890 GC.
Due to the high solubility of CO2 in water, it was difficult to obtain good instantaneous carbon balance to assess the importance of the combustion pathway. This value can however be assessed by summing Oxs (defined as that O beyond what is required for stoichiometric CO oxidation) over time and comparing it with the total alkene reacted or epoxide formed. Oxs can be calculated from ROxs which is the difference in the rates of oxygen atom and CO consumption (Eq. 1). The efficiency of generation of Oxs from CO oxidation is defined in Eq. 2.

ROxs=2*RO2 used−RCO used  (1)

EOxs=ROxs/RCO=efficiency in Oxs production  (2)

Results
Au/TiO2 
FIG. 1a shows CO oxidation over a Au/TiO2 catalyst at room temperature in a feed of 2.5% CO and 1.25% O2 in He. Before t=0, the catalyst was suspended above the liquid in a small polyethylene cup. It was relatively active for CO oxidation, albeit due to diffusion limitation, the activity was noticeably lower than when the same catalyst was placed in a plug flow reactor. At t=0, the catalyst was dispersed into the aqueous phase and the CO conversion decreased sharply due to the low solubility of the gases in H2O. EOxs was zero in the gas phase but increased transiently to a value of  ̃0.3 before decaying to zero after around 100 min (FIG. 1b). When the experiment was repeated with half the amount of catalyst, the aqueous phase CO conversions and EOxs did not change significantly suggesting that the rate limiting factor was not the catalytic process but the dissolution of gases into the liquid. At the end of the experiment, with 0.05 g Au/TiO2 catalyst, there were 5.2 μmoles of H2O2 in the aqueous phase. The amount of H2O2 detected exceeded the amount expected from the equilibrium concentration of the oxidation of H2O with O2 by many orders of magnitude (K25=2.58*10−22 for H2O oxidation with O2).
FIG. 2a shows that when the H2O temperature was increased to 40° C., CO conversions in the gas phase (gas phase temperature was less than 40° C.) and aqueous phase increased slightly. When 1.25% 1-butene was included in the feed, CO conversion was slightly suppressed in the gas phase but remained unaffected in the aqueous phase. The EOxs was close to zero, with and without butene in the feed, and was much less than that observed at the room temperature reaction condition (FIG. 2b). Thus, no epoxide was formed without the second component of this binary catalyst system.
Au/TiO2+TS-1 Mixture
FIG. 3a shows the CO and O2 conversions for three separate runs in a feed of CO, O2 and 1-butene using the binary catalyst system of Au/TiO2+TS-1. Table 1 summarizes these results as well as results of control experiments. CO conversion in the gas phase was lower than the runs without TS-1 because diffusional effects were more severe in a deeper bed in the polyethylene cup due to the presence of TS-1. In the gas phase, within uncertainties, the O2 and CO conversions followed the stoichiometric ratio for CO oxidation. Once the catalysts were dispersed into the aqueous phase, O2 conversions were consistently higher than the stoichiometric amounts for the corresponding CO conversions. Both CO and O2 conversions increased with time on stream until at the end of the experiment their conversions were similar or higher than that of the initial gas phase conversions, whereas the rate of Oxs production remained constant and positive (FIG. 3c).
Upon dispersing the catalysts into H2O (t=0), butene 1,2-epoxide was detected in the gas phase. The epoxide amount detected in the gas phase was low initially, as most of it was dissolved in H2O, but grew with time as its concentration in solution increased (FIG. 4). Gas phase butene consumption was low initially as dissolved butene was utilized first (5.62*10−5 moles was dissolved in 50 mL H2O as calculated from E. Wilhelm, R. Battino, and R. Wilcock, Chem. Rev., 1977, 77, 219) and the steady state was only reached after 150 min. In a separate extended time experiment (FIG. 5), in which the catalysts were placed in H2O right at the beginning (thus, the data before 80 min are not steady state data), it was observed that even after 500 min, CO and O2 conversions appeared to be continually increasing, while butene conversion appeared to be steady for a while before it declined slightly with long time on stream. The increases in CO and O2 conversions were only observed in the binary catalytic system of Au/TiO2 and TS-1 and were not observed if Au/TiO2 was used without TS-1 or a mixture of Au/TiO2 and silicalite was used (silicalite has the same crystal structure as TS-1 but without Ti incorporation), or when butene was omitted from the feed.
These results confirmed the formation of butene 1,2-epoxide by direct detection in the exit gas and in the product solution. Table 1 shows that in addition to epoxides, 1,2-butane diol was detected in the product solution as the major oxygenated hydrocarbon product, which was formed by rapid hydrolysis of the epoxide in an aqueous medium. The results also showed that combustion of butene was insignificant under these conditions because, within experimental uncertainties: (1) The sum of moles of hydrogen peroxide, epoxide and diol was close to that of the total moles of Oxs, whereas the total combustion of one mole of butene to CO2 and H2O would require 12 moles of Oxs, and (2) The alkene consumed integrated over time was close to the sum of epoxide and diol integrated over the same time period.
The results of control experiments, runs 4 to 7 in Table 1, showed that all components are needed for epoxide formation, which include CO, O2, supported Au catalyst for peroxide generation, butene, and TS-1 for epoxidation.







TABLE 1







Experimental results for butene epoxidation using Au/TiO2 and TS-1 in an aqueous


solution. Reaction conditions: 40° C., feed 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2, 1.25% 1-butene.









Quantity, ×10−5 moles3

















Total Epoxide


Butene



Run #
Catalyst
Feed
(gas/liquid)
Diol
Oxs
consumed
H2O2

















1
Au/TiO2 + TS-1
CO + O2 + C4H8
3.0
15
31
19
0.4





(0.8/2.2)


2
Au/TiO2 + TS-1
CO + O2 + C4H8
2.0
14
30
29
0.3





(0.6/1.4)


3
Au/TiO2 + TS-1
CO + O2 + C4H8
3.6
18
30
26
0.6





(0.7/2.9)


4
Au/TiO2 + TS-1
O2 + C4H8
0
0
0
0
0


5
Au/TiO2 + TS-1
CO + O2
NDa
ND
~6
ND
ND


6
TS-1
CO2 + O2 + C4H8
0
0
0
0
0


7
Au/TiO2 + silicalite
CO2 + O2 + C4H8
trace
0
0
not detectable
0.6





aND = Not Determined






Example 2
This example illustrates the carbon monoxide-assisted epoxidation of propene using molecular oxygen and a catalyst system of Au/TiO2 and TS-1.
Methods
Materials:
Au/TiO2 catalysts were supplied by the World Gold Council. Two different batches labeled Au—TiO2-02-4 and Au—TiO2-02-9 were used. The Au loadings were 1.51 and 1.49 wt. % and the average Au diameters were 3.8±1.5 nm and 3.6±1.32 nm, respectively. There was no discernible difference in the catalytic performances of the two catalysts. TS-1 was synthesized using the method of Thangaraj et al. (See Thangaraj, A., Kumar, R., Mirajkar, S. P., and Ratnasamy, P., Journal of Catalysis 130 (1), 1 (1991)). The incorporation of Ti into the silicalite framework was verified using diffuse reflectance UV visible spectroscopy (Perkin Elmer LAMBDA 1050). The Ti content was 1.0 wt. %, as determined by ICP. The silicalite sample was synthesized using the same procedure as for TS-1, except that no TiBuOH was added.
Catalytic Tests:
The epoxidation reaction was carried out in a Lab-Crest pressure glass reactor which was filled with 50 mL of solvent. The solvent used was either ion-exchanged distilled water or anhydrous CH3OH, or their mixture. The feed gas, at a flow rate of 40 mL min−1, was adjusted to the desired composition using mass flow controllers, and flowed into the liquid through a 5 μm stainless steel porous frit. The pressure in the vessel was maintained at 480 kPa with a back pressure regulator. The temperature of the liquid in the reactor was maintained at 40° C. with the help of an external water bath. Before the experiment began, the catalyst mixture (typically 0.1 g Au/TiO2 and 0.15 g TS-1) was placed in a small polyethylene cup held with a small, Teflon-covered magnet above the liquid. The feed composition was adjusted, the CO oxidation activity of the catalyst was tested, and the system was allowed to reach a steady state. Then, the catalyst cup was guided by a magnet into the liquid that was stirred constantly to commence the experiment. The exit gas was sampled regularly with a gas chromatograph. At the conclusion of the experiment, the liquid was analyzed by gas chromatography and product identification was assisted by GC-MS. Isotopic labeling was determined using a GC-MS. FIGS. 6-8 and Table 2 show the mass spectra of the compounds of interest, results of the isotope labeling experiments, and GC analysis information. The peroxide content was determined by titration with cerium sulfate using a ferroin indicator.







TABLE 2







Retention Times for Species Measured by GC-MS










Species
Retention Time (min)







Propene Oxide
2.06



Acetone
2.39



Acetic acid
7.70



1-propanol
4.86



Isopropanol
3.54



1,2-propanediol
8.83



Allyl alcohol
5.58



Propanal
2.23



Acrolein
2.56










Analysis of TS-1:
About 0.039 g of the TS-1 was dissolved completely in 2 mL distilled deionized (DDI) water and 3 mL 48% HF. The resulting solution was further diluted with 45 mL water, which was then analyzed using ICS-EAS.
Product Analysis:
The gas phase products were analyzed by on-line gas chromatography (Agilent 6890 GC) using two columns: a carbosphere packed column with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD) for analysis of CO, O2 and CO2, and a Econo-cap EC-Wax capillary column with a FID detector for organics. The liquid product was also analyzed by the same capillary column by injecting a small sample of the liquid with a syringe. All liquid products were separated from the solid catalysts by filtration through a 0.2 μm an PVDF membrane (Pall) before analysis. The isotope distributions were determined using a GC-MS (Agilent 6890 GC with 5973 MSD) with the FID and MSD sharing a capillary column via a splitter.
H2O2 and/or alkylhydroperoxide were titrated as follows. A ferroin indicator solution was prepared by dissolving 0.123 g iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate (FeSO4.7H2O) into 15 mL DDI water, then adding 0.259 g 1,10-phenanthroline. The titration solution was prepared by dissolving 0.114 g cerium(IV) sulfate (Ce(SO4)2) into dilute sulfuric acid (1/19 v/v). Into a conical flask, 5 mL sample and 10 mL diluted sulfuric acid (1/19 v/v) were added. Two drops of ferroin indicator were added to the above solution, turning it red. The titration solution, 0.6875 mM Ce(SO4)2, was then added until a color change to pale blue was observed.
Reactor System:
The reactor was a Lab-Crest pressure glass reactor (Cole-Parmer) into which a stream of premixed gas flows and is dispersed with a 5 μm stainless steel porous frit (Scientific Instrument Services). The pressure in the reactor was maintained with a back pressure regulator (Mighty Mite). A polyethylene cup was used to hold the catalyst above the liquid by placing a teflon-coated magnetic bar in the basket and holding it in place with another magnet outside the reactor. When the external magnet was removed, the catalyst would drop into the liquid and disperse. The gas composition was adjusted using mass flow controllers (Brooks). The temperature of the reactor was maintained by placing it in a water bath.
Results
The CO oxidation-assisted epoxidation process was conducted by bubbling a gas mixture of CO, O2, propene, and He through a suspension of Au/TiO2 and TS-1 catalysts. In a typical experiment, the feed gas was 2.5% CO, 1.25% O2, and 1.6% propene in He and the total pressure was 480 kPa. The rates of CO, O2, and propene consumption and formation of volatile products, including propene oxide (PO), acetone, propanediol, and 2-propanol were monitored by analyzing the gas phase products at the reactor exit periodically with an on-line GC-MS. CO2 was also analyzed, but its rate of formation could not be calculated accurately from the exit gas due to significant dissolution into the liquid. At the conclusion of the experiment, the liquid phase was analyzed for organic products by GC-MS, and peroxides by titration. The results are presented in Table 3.







TABLE 3







Summary results for liquid phase CO oxidation-assisted epoxidation of propene.










Quantity, ×10−5 molesc

















Reaction conditions
Rxn
Reaction rate,b
Total

C3H6




















CO, O2,
time,
μmol/min
PO,
Other
cons.
—OOHg



















Exp.a
MeOH:H2O
propenee
min.
CO
O2
C3H6
±1
productsf
±2
±0.2
PO/COd





















 1
  0:50
2.5, 1.25, 1.6
292
2.5
1.6
0.83
2.7
14.6
24
0.34
0.04


 2
  40:10
2.5, 1.25, 1.6
232
11
5.8
0.88
21
trace
22
0.72
0.08


 3

2.5, 1.25, 3.3
221
9.3
5.5
0.97
28
trace
22
nd
0.14


 4

1.25, 1.25, 1.6
234
5.6
3.0
0.58
12
trace
12
nd
0.1


 5
 47.5:2.5
2.5, 1.25, 1.6
251
4.0
2.5
0.81
23
trace
20
0.37
0.22


 6

2.5, 1.25, 3.3
235
5.5
3.6
1.1
27
trace
>26
nd
0.21


 7
 50:0
2.5, 1.25, 1.6
>100
0
0
0
0
0
0
nd
—


 8 (EtOH)
47.5h:2.5
2.5, 1.25, 1.6
240
1.8
1.1
.08
1.5
trace
2
nd
0.03


 9
47.5i:2.5
2.5, 1.25, 1.6
240
0.4
0.2
0.0
0
0
0
nd
—


(CH3CN)


10j
 47.5:2.5
2.5, 1.25, 1.6
185
7.2
3.8
0.002
0.2
trace
3
2.1
<0.01


(control)


11
  40:10
0, 1.25, 1.6
205
—
0
0
0
0
0
nd
—


(control)





aCatalyst: Au/TiO2 + TS-1, except when noted; 40° C.; total pressure: 480 kPa; total flow rate 40 mL/min; 50 mL liquid. All data shown are averages of two or three separate experiments. Data for each row are average of at least two separate experiments.


bSteady state rates, determined by analysis of composition of gas exiting the reactor.


cSum of products formed or reactant consumed over the reaction time indicated, determined from both the gas and liquid phase compositions.


dRatio of total epoxide detected to total CO consumed.


e% by volume, balance He.


fOnly by product detected in any significant amount was propanediol in Exp. 1.


gTotal peroxide (H2O2 + ROOH), determined by titration analysis of liquid reaction mixture at conclusion of experiment.


hMethanol solvent was replaced with ethanol.


iMethanol solvent was replaced with acetonitrile.


jCatalyst: Au/TiO2 + silicalite.






When the catalyst was above the liquid, CO was oxidized to CO2 with stoichiometric consumption of O2, independent of the presence of propene in the feed or the liquid composition. There was no detectable reaction of propene when it was present. A similar stoichiometric consumption of CO and O2 was observed when Au/TiO2 was lowered into a water-only solvent in a feed without propene. On the other hand, in a feed that includes propene, extra O consumption (Oxs), beyond what was required for stoichiometric CO oxidation, was observed immediately when a Au/TiO2+silicalite catalyst mixture was lowered into a 20:80 H2O/methanol solvent. However, the rate of Oxs consumption fell quickly to an undetectable level within an hour. At the conclusion of the experiment, about 21 μmole of peroxide were detected in the aqueous solution (Exp. 10 in Table 3). Silicalite, which has the same crystal structure as TS-1 but without Ti incorporation, is inactive for epoxidation. The quantity of peroxide detected was about 1⁄4 that of Oxs. The fate of the remaining Oxs was not determined.
With propene in the feed and a mixture of Au/TiO2 and TS-1 as catalyst in a methanol-H2O solvent, the rate of Oxs consumption was maintained over the course of the experiment (FIG. 9a). The CO and O2 consumption rates reached a steady state in  ̃1 h (FIG. 9b), whereas propene consumption rate required  ̃2 h, probably due to its higher solubility in the solvent. Over this time, epoxide began to appear in the gas phase. Its concentration increased continuously, consistent with the fact that it was accumulating in the liquid. At the completion of the experiment, the liquid was analyzed for the propene oxide contents. As illustrated by experiments 1 to 7 in Table 3, the product distributions and the reaction rates depended strongly on the solvent. In pure H2O (Exp. 1), the catalyst was active, but the major product was propanediol, indicating rapid hydrolysis of propene oxide. At the other extreme when anhydrous methanol was the solvent, there was little reaction, even for CO oxidation (Exp. 7). Very interestingly, propene oxide was practically the only product of propene reaction in experiments when the solvent was methanol with 5 or 20% H2O (Exp. 2 to 6). This could be a consequence of the hydrophobic nature of the TS-1 pores that partitions CH3OH preferentially to H2O. Within the uncertainties (estimated 10%) in both O2 and propene balances over the course of the experiment, little combustion or hydration of propene had occurred under these conditions. Titration identified the presence of peroxide in the liquid (2nd to last column, Table 3), but the technique could not distinguish H2O2 from other peroxides, such as CH3OOH. The yield of propene oxide increased with CO reaction rate, which increased with CO concentration in the feed (compare Exp. 2 and 4). The yield also increased with increasing propene concentration (compare Exp. 2 and 3, and 5 and 6).
When methanol was replaced by ethanol (Exp. 8), the CO oxidation rate decreased by a factor of about 2.5, and propene oxide formation by over a factor of 10. The slower epoxidation rate in ethanol than in methanol has been reported, although the decrease was less than that observed here. (See S. M. Danov, A. V. Sulimov and A. V. Sulimova, Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry, 2008, 81, 1963-1966.) Importantly, selective propene oxide formation was possible.
Control experiments showed little propene oxide formation when either Au/TiO2 (not shown) or TS-1 (Exp. 10, Table 3) was missing from the catalyst mixture, supporting the hypothesis that a stable intermediate oxidant was formed on Au/TiO2 that diffuses to TS-1 to effect epoxidation. CO was necessary (Exp. 11, Table 3), confirming that this intermediate oxidant cannot be formed by oxidation of water or methanol directly, but by a mechanism that is coupled to CO oxidation. Finally, when methanol was replaced by acetonitrile in the solvent (95/5 acetonitrile/H2O, Exp. 9), no propene oxide was formed, no peroxide was detected in the liquid by titration, and the CO oxidation activity was low.
The lack of catalytic activity in an anhydrous methanol solvent is not surprising. Others have reported the importance of moisture for high CO oxidation activities. (See Costello, C. K. et al., Applied Catalysis, A: General 243 (1), 15 (2003); Daté, M., Okumura, M., Tsubota, S., and Haruta, M., Angewandte Chemie International Edition 43 (16), 2129 (2004); and Kung, M. C., Davis, R. J., and Kung, H. H., Journal of Physical Chemistry C 111 (32), 11767 (2007)). Surprising results were obtained, however, when the role of H2O2 was investigated in the epoxidation reaction using H218O in a methanol-H2O solvent. If epoxidation proceeded via the formation of H2O2 from H2O and O2, H218O could be used to form H18O16OH, and the resulting propene oxide would be 50% labeled as C3H618O. Table 4 shows the results of these experiments (Exps. 12-14). Only 16O-labeled PO was detected both in the exit gas and the liquid. In contrast, a distribution of C16O2, C16O18O, and C18O2, enriched in 18O content, was detected in the gas phase product. The formation of a distribution of isotopically labeled CO2 indicates oxygen scrambling between CO2 and H2O, most likely via a bicarbonate intermediate.







TABLE 4







Results of 18O-Labeled Experiments












H2O
O2

Isotope distribution in



isotope
isotope

productsb













ratio,
ratio,
Reaction
C18O2:C18O16O:
P18O:


Exp.a
18O/16O
18O/16O
time, min
C16O2
P16O















12
1/0
0/1
310
4.8:6.8:1
0:1


13
1/0
0/1
110
5.2:6..4:1
0:1


14
1/0
0/1
120
4.8:6.3:1
0:1





240
4.8:6.3:1
0:1


15
0/1
1/0
60
0:0.1:1
1:0





180
0:0.1:1
1:0


16
0/1
1/0
120
0:0.02:1
1:0


17
0/1
1/0
120
0:0.1:1
1:0





180
0:0.1:1
1:0





aReaction conditions same as Table 3; CH3OH/H2O = 95:5 except Exp. 16, which was 80:20, and Exp. 17 which used ethanol instead of methanol.


bCO2 in the gas product stream, and propene oxide in both gas and liquid products.






Complementary experiments were conducted using 18O2 in the feed. The results (Exp. 15 and 16) showed that only 18O-labeled PO was formed until at least 1 h into the experiment, when small amounts of 16O-labeled PO began to appear. Interestingly, the CO2 was mostly labeled with 16O, consistent with rapid isotope scrambling with water. A similar observation was obtained using the ethanol/H2O solvent (Exp. 17). Only 18O-labelled PO was formed when using 18O2. In addition to the fact that the methanol results have been repeated, other evidence also suggested that these results were not experimental artifacts due to scrambling in the detection system. Injection of a solution of unlabelled propene oxide in H218O into the GC-MS did not change the cracking pattern of the propene oxide, although a huge m/e=20 peak due to the labelled water was observed. In the experiments using H218O, trace amounts of 18O-labelled (>90% labelled) acetone could be detected, which was likely formed by hydration of propene followed by oxidative dehydrogenation of the propanol product. Thus, labelled reactive organics can be detected accurately.
These results show that H2O, although necessary for CO oxidation, is not involved directly in the epoxidation reaction. It is believed that the role of moisture is to maintain the activity of the active site on Au for CO oxidation. Alcohol is needed for epoxidation, which does not occur in the acetonitrile/water solvent. Whereas the data unequivocally showed the formation of a stable intermediate oxygen carrier that is formed from O2 on Au/TiO2, and diffuses to TS-1 to effect epoxidation, unfortunately, there was no direct observation on the nature of this intermediate. Two logical possibilities are: H2O2 and CH3OOH (or C2H5OOH if ethanol is used).
H2O2 could be formed according to Scheme 1 shown in FIG. 10. O2 is adsorbed on the active site on Au/TiO2 as peroxy or superoxide, which reacts with CO to form CO2 and an adsorbed O. The adsorbed O may react with another CO in a nonproductive pathway, or react with methanol to form a surface OH and a CH2OH radical. Two surface OH combine to form H2O2 which carries the same isotope label as O2. This mechanism would postulate HOCH2CH2OH as a byproduct. Unfortunately, its presence was not detected, although its concentration might be too low for detection.
Alternatively, the Au-superoxide picks up a proton from water or methanol to form Au-peroxide (Scheme 2 in FIG. 10), which reacts with methanol or methoxide to form CH3OOH, in which the O of the OH would have the same isotope label as O2. The methylhydroperoxide is responsible for propene epoxidation. Reaction of Au-superoxide with CO would lead to nonproductive consumption of CO.
As used herein, and unless otherwise specified, “a” or “an” means “one or more.” All patents, applications, references, and publications cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety to the same extent as if they were individually incorporated by reference.
As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, particularly in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art, all language such as “up to,” “at least,” “greater than,” “less than,” and the like includes the number recited and refers to ranges which can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member.
It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein, but include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims.

## Claims

1. A method for the epoxidation of an alkene, the method comprising exposing the alkene to a two-component catalyst system in an aqueous solution, in the presence of carbon monoxide and molecular oxygen, under conditions in which the alkene is epoxidized, wherein the two-component catalyst system comprises a first catalyst that generates peroxides or peroxy intermediates during oxidation of CO with molecular oxygen and a second catalyst catalyzes the epoxidation of the alkene using the peroxides or peroxy intermediates.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first catalyst comprises gold and the second catalyst comprise titanium silicalite.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the alkene has an allylic hydrogen.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the alkene is butene.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the alkene is propene.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the aqueous solution comprises an alcohol.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the alcohol is methanol.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the alkene has an allylic hydrogen.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the ratio of alcohol to water in the aqueous solution is at least 4:1 by volume.

10. The method of claim 6 having a selectivity for epoxide production of at least 90%.

11. The method of claim 10 having a selectivity for epoxide production of at least 99%.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the epoxidation of the alkene is carried out at a temperature of no greater than 50° C.

13. The method of claim 1 carried out in the absence of H2 gas.

14. The method of claim 1 carried out in the absence of peroxy initiators.

15. The method of claim 1 carried out in the absence of H2 or peroxy initiators, wherein the first catalyst comprises gold and the second catalyst comprises titanium silicalite, the alkene has an allylic hydrogen, and the aqueous solution comprises methanol.