The photo-catalytic hydroxylation of phenol with hydrogen peroxide was carried out over TS-1 and Ti-MCM-41 catalysts. For comparison, the dark (thermal)-catalytic hydroxylation of phenol was also performed. The difference in catalytic behaviors of TS-1 and Ti-MCM-41 and product distribution in both the reactions were investigated. The TS-1 and Ti-MCM-41 catalysts having the Si/Ti ratio of 50 were prepared by in-situ crystallization and characterized using XRD, UV-DRS. In the all reactions, the main products were catechol (CAT), hydroquinone (HQ) and benzoquinone (BQ). In dark (thermal)-reaction, TS-1 showed a higher catalytic activity than Ti- MCM-41. In photo-reaction, however, the activity of Ti-MCM-41 was comparable to that of TS-1. The conversion of phenol and the selectivity to CAT in the photo-catalytic reaction were higher than those in dark (thermal)-reaction. In the all reactions, the selectivity to CAT increased remarkably when the selectivities to HQ and BQ decreased with reaction time.
Influences of Pore Sizes on the Catalytic Activity of Fe-MCM-41 in Hydroxylation of Phenol