Propylene oxide (PO) is a valuable intermediate used in the production of a large variety of valuable consumer products, such as polyurethane foams, polymers, propylene glycol, cosmetics, food emulsifiers and as fumigants and insecticides. [1,2] Over 8 million tons of PO are produced annually from propylene. [1] The technology, economics, and environmental impacts of current as well as alternate propylene epoxidation processes have recently been reviewed. [1,2] Recently, we reported the discovery of a new class of silicasupported RuO 2 -CuO x -NaCl catalysts for the direct epoxidation of propylene by using molecular oxygen under atmospheric pressure. [3] This trimetallic catalyst, at its optimal composition of Ru/Cu/Na = 4:2:1(metal weight ratio, or about 3:4:4 atom ratio) at 12.5 wt % total metal loading, exhibited PO selectivities in the range 40-50 % at propylene conversions of 10-20 % at 240-270 8C and 1 atm (1 atm = 1.0133 10 5 Pa), and it maintained this activity for up to 4-8 h. However, we subsequently observed a slow, but steady decrease in PO selectivity in experiments over longer time periods. This degradation in performance is not acceptable from a practical standpoint if the RuO 2 -CuO x -NaCl/SiO 2 system is to be exploited commercially.Here, we report that the introduction of chlorinated hydrocarbon (CHC) additives to the C 3 H 6 /O 2 feed in the range 1-100 parts per million (ppm by volume) ameliorates the performance degradation problem and enables the steady production of PO, albeit at a decrease in propylene conversion. The beneficial effect of chlorinated hydrocarbons on propylene epoxidation in the RuO 2 -CuO x -NaCl/SiO 2 system appears to be different than the promotional effects observed in Ag catalyzed ethylene oxide (EO) production, [4,5] although some similarities also exist. The promotion of EO by chlorine on silver has been studied in considerable detail in the past and has been attributed to a combination of geometric/ensemble and electronic effects. [4][5][6][7] For example, surface adsorbed Cl atoms (Cl s ) have been suggested to decrease the number of sites for oxygen adsorption, thereby decreasing catalyst activity. Additionally, by site blocking, Cl s has been proposed to reduce the number of neighboring active sites needed for the dissociative adsorption of O 2 . This leads to increased molecular O 2 adsorption (i.e., O s ÀO) as opposed to O s (surface oxygen), thus increasing EO selectivity at the expense of a decrease in activity. In the electronic models, an increase in EO selectivity by chlorine has been attributed to its higher electronegativity. [5,6] This has been suggested to result in the weakening of the AgÀO bond, which leads to increased EO selectivity. [5] However, the same mechanism also results in an increased activation energy for the dissociative chemisorption of O 2 , thereby decreasing the overall activity. [5] In another proposal, EO promotion by chlorine has been attributed to the formation of both surface and subsurface Cl that collectively alter the energ...