Oxidation of Propylene and Isobutylene over Mercury(II) Chloride-Active Charcoal Catalyst

Abstract

Oxidation of propylene and isobutylene over mercury (II) chloride-active charcoal catalyst was studied in the presence of excess oxygen and steam at atmospheric pressure. As a main product, propylene gives acrylaldehyde, and isobutylene gives methacrylaldehyde. The yield of unsaturated carbonyl compounds increased in proportion to the concentration of oxygen. The selectivity to acrylaldehyde was 75% under oxygen/olefin =1 (mole ratio) and methacrylaldehyde was obtained 70% selectivity in isobutylene oxidation under the same reaction conditions. Addition of such metal chloride as CuCl2, FeCl3 and BaCl2, stabilized the catalytic activity for acrylaldehyde formation from propylene.
The rate of methacrylaldehyde formation decreased with the amount of CuCl2, FeCl3, and BaCl2 added, while these catalytic activities were nearly constant at 140° C.