Synthesis of titanium silicalite-1 using ethyl silicate-40: a new silica source for zeolite synthesis

Titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) was synthesized using ethyl silicate-40 (ES-40 ) as a new silica source for zeolite synthesis. This procedure is advantage ous because of the higher rate of crystallization, enhanced incorporation o f Ti and the highly pure sub-micron sized crystalline product, which is hig hly active for phenol and anisole oxidation by aqueous H2O2, furthermore, E S-40 is cheaper compared to tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The product wa s characterized by XRD, IR, SEM, UV-VIS and XRF spectroscopy and adsorption studies. The nature of the silicate species in the intermediate stages of the synthesis was characterized by studying the Si-29 liquid NMR spectra. I t was observed that if tetrabutyl orthotitanate (TBOT) was mixed with ES-40 before hydrolysis while preparing the reactive solution precursor, the Q(3 ) type of silicate species were predominantly formed, which resulted in fas ter crystallization of TS-1.