Oxidation Catalysis over Solid-State Keggin-Type Phosphomolybdic Acid with Oxygen Defects

Keggin-type phosphomolybdic acid (PMo12O40), treated with pyridine (Py), forms a crystalline material (PyPMo-HT) following heat treatment under an inert gas flow at ∼420 °C. Although this material is known to have attractive catalytic properties for gas-phase oxidation, the origin of this catalytic activity requires clarification. In this study, we investigated the crystal structure of PyPMo-HT. PyPMo-HT comprises a one-dimensional array of Keggin units and pyridinium cations (HPy), with an HPy/Keggin unit ratio of ∼1.0. Two oxygen atoms were removed from the Keggin unit during crystal structure transformation, which resulted in an electron being localized on the Mo atom in close contact with the adjacent Keggin unit. Upon the introduction of molecular oxygen, electron transfer from this Mo atom resulted in the formation of an electrophilic oxygen species that bridged two Keggin units. The electrophilic oxygen species acted as a catalytically active oxygen species, as confirmed by the selective oxidation of propylene. PyPMo-HT showed excellent catalytic activity for the selective oxidation of methacrolein, with the methacrylic acid yield being superior to that obtained with PMo12O40 and comparable to that obtained with an industrial Keggin-type polyoxometalate (POM) catalyst. The oxidation catalysis observed over PyPMo-HT provides a deeper understanding of POM-based industrial catalytic processes.