Acidic Property and Catalytic Activity of TiO2·ZnO

A new type of mixed metal oxide TiO2·ZnO was prepared by either heterogeneous or homogeneous co-precipitation and the acidic property was measured by n-butylamine titration and by observation of infrared spectra of adsorbed pyridine. It was found that TiO2·ZnO containing about 7 or 57% of ZnO shows a very large acid amount of 0.5–0.9 mmol/g and a fairly high acid strength of H0≤−3, the acid sites being both Brönsted and Lewis type and the acid sites of high strength created by heterogeneous precipitation. The catalytic activity and selectivity of TiO2·ZnO were found very high for the hydration reaction of ethylene. The catalyst was active also for the alkylation of phenol by methanol and gave only monoalkylated products.