Supplementary Information

Selective Gas Phase Isomerization of Styrene Oxide to Phenylacetaldehyde in a Steel Tube Reactor

Belina Terfassaa, Isaac Nongweb, Vilas Ravata, and Neil J. Covillea*

a DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials and the Molecular Sciences Institute, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa.

b University of South Africa, Department of Civil and Chemical Engineering Private Bag X6 Florida, 1710

Table S 1. Effect of temperature, carrier gas and gas flow rates on the conversion and selectivity for the isomerization of STO to PhAD in a glass tube reactor without steel balls after 2 h and 4 h reaction times.

Temp. (°C) / Flow rate of gas (ml/min) / 2h / 4h
Conver (%)a / Select (%) / Conver (%)a / Select (%)
220 / N2:20 / 3 / 80 / 4 / 81
N2:40 / 3 / 82 / 5 / 80
N2:20; H2:20 / 4 / 81 / 3 / 79
H2:20 / 4 / 81 / 6 / 80
240 / N2:20 / 5 / 78 / 5 / 76
N2:40 / 6 / 77 / 5 / 78
N2:20; H2:20 / 5 / 75 / 5 / 77
H2:20 / 4 / 79 / 5 / 80

.

Table S2. Conversion and selectivity of STO to PhAD in a steel tube containing steel ball bearings at 20 mL/min N2 flow at different temperature and time.

Time (h) / 200 oC / 220 oC / 240 oC / 260 oC
Conver. (%) / Select. (%) / Conver. (%) / Select. (%) / Conver. (%) / Select. (%) / Conver. (%) / Select. (%)
1 / 75 / 92 / 87 / 91 / 97 / 97 / 89 / 94
2 / 74 / 90 / 86 / 92 / 98 / 98 / 87 / 93
3 / 75 / 90 / 86 / 91 / 97 / 99 / 87 / 93
4 / 75 / 90 / 87 / 92 / 98 / 99 / 84 / 92

Table S3. Comparison of the average conversion and selectivity of the STO to PhAD reaction in a steel tube reactor containing steel ball bearings under different carrier gases over a period of 4 h.

Temp. (oC) / Flow Rate of N2 and H2 (mL/min)
N2 = 20 mL/min / H2 = 20 mL/min / N2 + H2 = 20 mL/min
Conver. (%) / Select. (%) / Conver. (%) / Select. (%) / Conver. (%) / Select. (%)
200 / 75 / 90 / 69 / 85 / 72 / 89
220 / 87 / 92 / 78 / 84 / 82 / 89
240 / 98 / 99 / 88 / 91 / 89 / 88
260 / 84 / 92 / 85 / 85 / 83 / 85