Epoxidation of cyclohexene on Ti/SiO2 catalysts prepared by chemical grafting TiCl4 on deboronated silica xerogel

Ti/SiO2 (or Ti/de[B]SiO2) catalysts were prepared by grafting deboronated silica xerogel with gaseous TiCl4. Using TBHP as oxidant, the Ti/de[B]SiO2 catalyst shows both catalytic activity and selectivity in epoxidation of cyclohexene better than 80%, and the activity can be comparable with that of Ti-beta. The catalytic activity of Ti/de[B]SiO2 strongly depends on the content of B of support precursor, and the pretreatment temperature of the support. IR studies show that the sites in the deboronated silica xerogel to react with TiCl4 are not only the silanol nests, but also the defect sites produced during the deboronation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Preparation of monolithic silica column with strong cation-exchange stationary phase for capillary electrochromatography

A monolithic silica based strong cation-exchange stationary phase was successfully prepared for capillary electrochromatography. The monolithic silica matrix from a sol-gel process was chemically modified by treatment with 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane followed by a chemical oxidation procedure to produce the desired function. The strong cation-exchange stationary phase was characterized by its substantial and stable electroosmotic flow (EOF), and it was observed that the EOF value of the prepared column remained almost unchanged at different buffer pH values and slowly decreased with increasing phosphate concentration in the mobile phase. The monolithic silica column with strong cation-exchange stationary phase has been successfully employed in the electrochromatographic separation of beta-blockers and alkaloids extracted from traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). The column efficiencies for the tested beta-blockers varied from 210,000 to 340,000 plates/m. A peak compression effect was observed for atenolol with the mobile phase having a low phosphate concentration.