Abstract
A TUNGSTEN CATALYST SYStem developed by a team of researchers in China holds promise for a more economical and environmentally friendly route to production of propylene oxide. The apparent front-runner among several possible processes that have emerged to replace the two industrial methods currently in use is the catalytic epoxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics have now come up with a novel catalyst system for that process [ Science , 292, 1139 (2001)]. Chemistry professor Xi Zuwei and coworkers Zhou Ning, Sun Yu, and Li Kunlan discovered a tungsten-containing catalyst, {C 5 H 5 NC 16 H 33 } 3 {PO 4 (WO 3 ) 4 }, that initially is insoluble in organic solvents. But under the action of in situ-generated H 2 O 2 it forms a soluble active species that catalyzes propylene epoxidation. As H 2 O 2 is used up, the catalyst becomes insoluble again, simplifying its recovery The only products of the reaction are propylene ...
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