Vanadyl Pyrophosphate - A Critical Overview

A critical overview of the recent literature data on the reaction mechanism and nature of the active sites, on the bulk vs. surface properties, on the kinetic aspects of butane oxidation and on the alternative uses of vanadyl pyrophosphate for other oxidation reactions is presented. Some important aspects that require further investigation in order to obtain a better understanding of the reaction mechanism and dynamics on a molecular scale, develop a general approach to catalysts for the selective alkane oxyfunctionalization and achieve further improvments in VPO catalyst performances in n-butane and n-pentane selective oxidation are discussed.