Direct Epoxidation of Propylene with Molecular O2: Progress and Challenge of Cu-Based Catalysts

As an important bulk chemical, the annual production of propylene oxide (PO) is around ten million tons, but its industrial production methods are still suffering from severe drawbacks such as high cost, many by-products and serious pollution. In contrast, direct epoxidation of propylene with molecular O-2 (DEP) has the advantages of atomic, economy, environmental friendship and so on, which attracts more and more attention. Ho ever, the competing process of alpha-H abstraction of propylene and high activity of PO make it a grand challenge to simultaneously obtain high PO selectiviiy and high propylene conversion. It has been recognized that among the coinage metals, Cu-based catalysts exhibit excellent catalytic performance. The present work would summarize recent developments of Cu-based catalysts for DEP reaction. We would concentrate on how to tailor the Cu-based catalysts and pointed out some of the existing problems that need to be further studied.