Vanadium-incorporated molybdophosporic acid catalysts supported on titania were prepared and characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction and laser Raman spectroscopy. Characterization data reveals the incorporation of vanadium into the primary structure of Keggin ion of MPA. Catalysts activities were evaluated for oxidation of 1,2-benzenedimethanol using H₂O₂ and O₂ as oxidants. Vanadium-containing catalysts showed high activity compared to their parent heteropoly acids. Oxidation ability depended on the number of V atoms present in Keggin heteropoly molybdate. Effect of reaction parameters on the oxidation ability was also evaluated.

Influence of the nature of support on the formation of catalytically active species was investigated to clarify the key factor for the synthesis of supported ammonium salt of 12-molybdophosphoric acid (AMPA) catalyst which maintains the activity of ammoxidation during 2-methylpyrazine reaction.With this aim, different loadings of niobia-, silica- and alumina-, supported AMPA catalysts were prepared. The AMPA loading was varied in the range of 5-25 wt%. The synthesized solids were characterized by nitrogen adsorption for BET surface area, XRD and ³¹P MAS NMR techniques. All the AMPA-supported samples are poorly crystalline even after 25 wt% AMPA loading. Investigations using ³¹P MAS NMR spectroscopy of samples revealed that Keggin ion existed as at least five different species on the supports. The investigated properties were acidity of the support and amount of AMPA loading on the support. Active sites for the ammoxidation of MP on supported AMPA catalysts seem to be the interacted and/or the lacunary species.Maximum catalytic activity could be obtained at lower loadings with AMPA deposited on acidic supports whereas the less acidic supports require higher loading. It was found that in order to efficiently generate the active interactive species, the support must have an acidity which promotes the formation of support-AMPA interactive species. It is possible to enhance the catalytic activity of the supported AMPA catalyst for ammoxidation of 2-methylpyrazine by controlling the acidity of the support and AMPA loading on the support.

Catalysts with varying WO₃ content on SnO₂ were prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction, in situ Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption of NH₃. In situ Raman analysis reveals the presence isolated monomers and polymeric species of WO₃. These catalysts were evaluated for the conversion of glycerol into value added chemicals. Etherification of glycerol with tertiary butanol and preparation of glycerol carbonate from glycerol and urea are studied over these catalysts. The catalytic activity results suggest that the glycerol conversion and selectivity depends on the morphology of WO₃ which in turn is related to its content in the catalyst. The catalysts with 5 wt.% of WO₃ on SnO₂ resulted in high dispersion with larger number of strong acidic sites. The selectivity in the glycerol etherification is related to the nature of the catalyst and reaction time. These catalysts also exhibited high activity for synthesis of glycerol carbonate. The effect of various reaction parameters was studied to optimize the reaction conditions. The catalysts also exhibited consistent activity upon reuse.

The objective of this work is to understand the influence of small amount of Mo=O (1, 3 and 5wt.% MoO₃) impregnated on FePO₄ and its resultant effect on the acidity was studied for the ammoxidation of 2-methyl pyrazine (2-MP) to 2-cyano pyrazine (2-CP) in the temperature range of 380–420°C. The Mo/FeP catalyst characteristics were evaluated by XRD, HAADF-EDS, TPR and NH₃-TPD techniques. Primarily, quartz-type XRD phase was observed for the iron phosphate (FeP). The Mo/FeP exhibits MoO₃ and quartztype iron phosphate phase. The interface between Mo particles (20 nm) and FeP was clearly established by HR-TEM in 3Mo/FeP. Furthermore, the average atomic composition revealed by HAADF/EDS for 3Mo/FeP as Fe 30.0%, P 40.0% and Mo 1.6% with Fe/Mo surface XPS ratio 6. The greater 2-CP yield of 68.0% on 3Mo/FeP was attributed to enhanced, moderate acid sites coming from MoO₃ and cooperation between Mo and FeP at the interface in terms of oxygen and electron transfer to the reactant (2-MP).