Study on the reaction mechanism of the propylene oxide rearrangement via in situ DRIFTS

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Vol. 307; pp. 1047 - 1054
• Main Authors: Wang, Yanan, Ma, Weihua, Wang, Dongyu, Zhong, Qin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Basic lithium phosphate; In situ DRIFTS technology; Intermediate; Propylene oxide rearrangement; Propylene oxide rearrangement; In situ DRIFTS technology; Intermediate; Basic lithium phosphate
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2016.09.035

[Display omitted] •The in situ DRIFTS technology was employed to study the reaction mechanism.•Studied on the adsorption of propylene oxide on the different substances.•A structure of new reactive intermediate was presented.•The reaction mechanism of propylene oxide rearrangement was proposed. In this paper, the in situ DRIFTS technology was employed to study the adsorption and reaction behavior of propylene oxide on different substances at different temperatures. And the adsorption behavior of the products at a certain temperature was also studied. The studies shows that the propylene oxide rearrangement involves thermal and catalytic transformation above 200°C. In the first case, two main reaction pathways are involved: gradual rearrangement to the final products and pyrolysis leading to the formation of different products. In the former situation, the epoxy ring of propylene oxide first adsorbs on the basic lithium phosphate catalyst. Then it forms an intermediate with the bond between CO and C–O. The intermediate is finally converted to the final products, i.e., allyl alcohol at 300°C. When the products (propyl aldehyde and acetone) adsorb on the catalyst, a conjugated structure consisting of basic lithium phosphate and α-H generates.