Selective Synthesis of Methylal from Methanol on a New Crystalline SbRe2O6 Catalyst

A novel SbRe2O6 catalyst was active for the selective methanol oxidation to methylal (CH2(OCH3)2). Other known Sb-Re oxides, Sb4Re2O13 and SbOReO4·2H2O produced almost no methylal. The bulk and surface of the SbRe2O6 catalyst was characterized by XRD, Raman, XPS and SEM. The high performance of SbRe2O6 may be attributed to the Re-oxide octahedra connecting with Sb-O chains.