Radius of curvature effect on the selective oxidation of cyclohexene over highly ordered V-MCM-41

V-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves with similar vanadium content (∼0.6 wt.%) and surface area (∼700 m²/g) but different pore sizes (from 1.8 to 2.9 nm) were synthesized. A pore wall radius of curvature effect on the initial rate of catalytic reaction existed when the cyclohexene epoxidation was used as a probe reaction, the larger the pore size, the higher the initial reaction rate. However, the turnover frequencies over a long period (72 h) were constant respect to different pore diameters, which was probably due to the strong pore diffusion limitation in the liquid environment.