1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China;
2. Jiangsu Academy of Environmental Industry and Technology Corporation, Nanjing 210036, China;
3. Nanjing Chemical Research Institute Company Limited, SINOPEC, Nanjing 210048, China
Abstract With molecular oxygen as oxidant, isobutyraldehyde as co-reducing agent and cobalt acetate as catalyst, styrene can be oxidized to styrene oxide and benzaldehyde. In order to obtain the high yield product styrene oxide, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the aldehyde dosage, catalyst dosage, and volume ratio of solvent to styrene on the reaction process and results. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the total yield of the product was 72.9%, the selectivity of styrene oxide and benzaldehyde was 53.1% and 20.7%, respectively. The corresponding prediction model was also established. According to the experimental results, the activation energy of styrene oxidation reaction was further calculated, and the activation energies of styrene oxide and benzaldehyde were 34.69 kJ/mol and 38.23 kJ/mol, respectively, indicating that low temperature was beneficial to improve the selectivity of styrene oxide products.
