Patent ID: 6903047

Claim:
A method for enhancing the activity of a vanadium phosphorus oxide catalyst comprising grafting onto or otherwise reacting one or more-promoter reagents with a catalyst to produce a catalyst composition with a promoter rich surface and wherein said composition is exposed to a heating cycle to form a promoted catalyst, wherein said promoter reagents comprise molybdenum alkoxide, molybdenum chloride or combinations thereof, and a second promoter reagent selected from the group consisting of alkoxides, anhydrous chlorides, carbonyls and organometallic complexes of A; wherein A is selected from the group consisting of Mn, Zn, Ni, Sn, Fe, Co, Ti, Zr, Bi, Al, Cu, Sb, or combinations thereof in amounts expressed by the formula [Mo 1-x A x ] y D, wherein 0≦x<1 and 0.01≦y≦0.4, and the atomic ratio of Mo to V (Mo/V) is greater than or equal to about 0.01; wherein D represents vanadium, vanadium phosphorus oxide catalyst or vanadium phosphorus oxide catalyst with binder included therein.