Lewis Acid Catalysis Confined in Zeolite Cages as a Strategy for Sustainable Heterogeneous Hydration of Epoxides

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• 作者：Weili Dai ; Chuanming Wang ; Bo Tang ; Guangjun Wu ; Naijia Guan ; Zaiku Xie ; Michael Hunger ; Landong Li
• 刊名：ACS Catalysis
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：May 6, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：6
• 期：5
• 页码：2955-2964
• 全文大小：682K
• 年卷期：0
• ISSN：2155-5435

文摘

We report a heterogeneous catalysis strategy to the sustainable hydration of epoxides by designing robust Lewis acid catalysts confined in zeolite cages as natural shape-selective nanoreactors. In the case of ethylene oxide hydration, Sn-H-SSZ-13 zeolite exhibits remarkable catalytic performance, with an ethylene oxide conversion above 99% and a monoethylene glycol selectivity above 99%, at approaching stoichiometric water/ethylene oxide ratios and near-ambient reaction temperatures. It is revealed by theoretical studies that partially hydroxylated Sn species are the preferred Lewis acid sites for the hydration of ethylene oxide. The concept of Lewis acid catalysis confined in zeolite cages may be applied in the future in the chemical industry to develop energy-saving and environmentally benign processes.