Density functional theory studies on hydroxylamine mechanism of cyclohexanone ammoximation on titanium silicalite-1 catalyst.

The hydroxylamine mechanism of cyclohexanone ammoximation on defective titanium active site of titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) was simulated using two-layer ONIOM (M062X/6-31G**:PM6) method. A new energy favorable reaction route was found, which contained two parts: (1) the catalytic oxidation of adsorbed NH3 to form hydroxylamine using the Ti-OOH as an active oxidant formed by reacting H2O2 with the defective Ti active site; (2) the subsequent noncatalytic oximation of desorbed hydroxylamine and cyclohexanone out of TS-1 pores to form cyclohexanone oxime. In the catalytic formation of hydroxylamine on the Ti active site of TS-1, the proposed mechanism of two-step single-proton transfer aided by a lattice oxygen atom bonded to Ti atom need a lower reaction energy than the mechanism proposed before. In the subsequent noncatalytic oximation of hydroxylamine and cyclohexanone, which contained two elementary reaction steps in total, the mechanisms of one-step double-proton transfer in the first elementary reaction step and the subsequent one-step three-proton transfer for the second elementary reaction step were proposed, in which the solvent water molecules played a very important role in assisting and stabilizing the proton transfer processes.