Abstract: Styrene epoxidation was carried out using styrene as the row material, molecular oxygen as the oxidant, and modified vanadium phosphorus oxide as the catalyst. The results showed that sliver significantly increased the overall activity for the selective oxidation of styrene to styrene oxide. To investigate the silver effect, the catalysts were characterized usingX-raydiffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,X-rayphotoelectron spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. The P/V ratio plays a crucial role in the activity and the selectivity of the catalyst. Other factors, such as the metallic constituent, solvent, and reaction temperature, were also studied. Under the optimal conditions (i.e., Ag-VPO as the catalyst, CH3CN as the solvent, 65 ℃), the conversion of styrene is 47.3%, and the selectivity for styrene oxide is up to 98.0%.

Key words: styrene, epoxidation, vanadium phosphorus oxide, oxygen, silver