Oxidation of α-Methylstyrene to Phenylacrolein

Abstract Various kinds of Mo-based oxides were tested as catalysts for the vapor-phase oxidation of α-methylstyrene to form phenylacrolein (atropoaldehyde). The best performance was obtained with the Te/Mo atomic ratio = 0.4 catalyst; the one-pass yield of phenylacrolein attained 48.5 mol% at the α-methylstyrene conversion of 96.3%.