Polymetallic Molybdenum-Based Catalysts for Epimerization of Glucose to Mannose

Molybdenum-based catalysts have been widely studied in the epimerization of glucose to mannose. In this paper, several polymetallic molybdenum-based catalysts were prepared and the high activity and selectivity of catalysts containing different divalent metal ions were investigated. Unlike most previous studies, there is no need to add acid to adjust pH in this reaction. It was found that the yield of CuAlMoO4 and CuAgAlMoO4 catalysts could be kept above 28.9 % at the epimerization of glucose reaction. Compared with soluble Cu3Mo2O9 catalysts, the prepared catalysts showed better stability and catalytic activity during the reaction process. It was found that the catalysts without copper had no catalytic effect or poor catalytic effect, and the valence state of copper ion changed before and after the reaction, indicating that copper ion played a very important role in the reaction