The role of ammonium ions during toluene ammoxidation on α-(NH4)2[(VO)3(P2O7)2] used as catalyst Original Research Article

Isotopic transient experiments in vacuum of the ammoxidation of toluene were carried out, applying the temporal-analysis-of-products reactor (TAP) using α-(14NH4)2[(VO)3(P2O7)2] as catalyst and15NH3-containing ammoxidation feed gas. The study revealed the participation of ammonium ions in the N-insertion step during benzonitrile formation. The benzonitrile formed during the ammoxidation pulses is composed of the14N- and15N-product. The share of the15N-benzonitrile increased with pulse number.