Solvothermal synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline vanadium-chromium composite oxides and catalytic ammoxidation of 2,6-dichlorotoluene

Nano-CrVO4 was obtained for the first time through solvothermal reaction of V2O5 and CrO3 in either methanol or methanol/water mixtures at 180 °C to prepare the precursor followed by calcination at 700 °C, which showed almost the highest catalytic activity among the bi-component composite oxides reported for the ammoxidation of 2,6-dichlorotoluene to 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile.