Nature of the active sites for alkane-selective oxidation on vanadium-phosphorus oxides

Selective activation of butane on V-P oxides requires very strong Lewis sites coupled to a V:O double bond, as suggested by MeCN adsorption on two (VO)2P2O7 catalysts having similar specific activities per m2 of surface area in 1-butene selective oxidn., but different specific activities in butane selective oxidn. [on SciFinder(R)]