S. Imamura et al., STRUCTURE OF MOLYBDENUM SUPPORTED ON ALPHA-ALUMINA, GAMMA-ALUMINA, AND CHI-ALUMINA IN RELATION TO ITS EPOXIDATION ACTIVITY, Journal of catalysis (Print), 177(1), 1998, pp. 72-81
The structures of Mo supported on alpha-, gamma-, and chi-aluminas wer
e analyzed by ESCA, XRD, IR, and XAFS techniques, and the relationship
between the structure of Mo and its catalytic activity for the epoxid
ation of allyl alcohol was discussed. The ranges of the Mo-monolayer f
ormation as estimated by the ESCA technique were less than 18, 15, and
1 wt% of Mo-loading for gamma-, chi-, and alpha-aluminas, respectivel
y. However, MoO3 was detected by an XRD analysis at 10 wt% of Mo-loadi
ng for gamma- and chi-aluminas; the ESCA technique overestimated the r
ange of the monolayer. The monolayer on gamma- and chi-aluminas as app
arently determined by the ESCA analysis consisted of isolated tetrahed
ral Mo, octahedral polymolybdate, and a small amount of MoO3. The mono
layer on a-alumina contained only tetrahedral Mo-species. MoO3 was pre
dominantly formed after the completion of the monolayer on all alumina
s. The epoxidation activity of Mo was low in the monolayer region; esp
ecially, isolated tetrahedral Mo was completely inactive. MoO3 was the
most active species for the epoxidation, and peroxo-type oxygen bound
to Mo was deduced to be the active species. (C) 1998 Academic Press.