The successfuls ynthesis of hierarchically structured titaniums ilicalite-1 (TS-1) with large intracrystalline macroporesb ys team-assisted crystallisation of mesoporous silica particlesi sr eported. The macropore topologyw as imaged in 3D by using electron tomographya nd synchrotron radiation-based ptychographic X-ray computed tomography,r evealing interconnected macropores within the crystals accounting for about3 0% of the particle volume. The study of the macropore formation mechanism revealed that the mesoporous silica particles act as as acrificial macropore template during the synthesis. Silicon-to-titanium ratio of the macroporous TS-1 samples was successfully tuned from 100 to 44. The hierarchically structured TS-1 exhibited high activity in the liquid phase epoxidation of 2-octene with hydrogen peroxide.T he hierarchically structured TS-1 surpassed ac onventional nano-sized TS-1 sample in terms of alkene conversion and showed comparable selectivity to the epoxide. The flexible synthesis route described herec an be used to prepare hierarchical zeolites with improved mass transport properties for other selective oxidation reactions.

Campholenic aldehyde is a highly valuable fine chemical that can be obtained by multistep synthesis from monoterpene α-pinene isolated from turpentine oil.