Highly efficient epoxidation of propylene to propylene oxide over TS-1 using urea + hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing agent

We compared the efficacies of urea + hydrogen peroxide (U+HP) and hydrogen peroxide (HP) as an oxidizing agent in the epoxidation of propylene catalyzed by a titanium silicate-1 (TS-1) molecular sieve. The TS-1 catalyst exhibited good performance and stability in the TS-1/(U+HP) system. EPR results showed that more active Ti-superoxo species led to better performance of TS-1 in the TS-1/(U+HP) system than in the TS-1/HP system.