LAUSR

Abstract Titanium-containing mesoporous molecular sieves with regular pore structure, high specific surface area, tunable pore size and suitable active sites have attracted great attention in the epoxidation of alkenes. Herein, we report the silylated Pd/Ti-MCM-41 (PdTM-ZS) catalysts prepared by treating the series Ti-MCM-41 samples (Si/Ti molar ratio = 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30) with palladium loading followed by surface silylation with trimethylchlorosilane. Reaction results show that the PdTM-ZS catalysts can be applied as efficient catalysts for the selective production of propylene oxide from the oxidation of propylene with cumene hydroperoxide as the oxidant. The PdTM-20S catalyst exhibits an excellent catalytic performance with the selectivity of propylene oxide approaching 100%, which can be attributed to the synergistic effect of abundant active sites, palladium loading and surface silylation.