n-Butane selective oxidation to maleic anhydride on VPO catalyst is the only industrialized selective oxidation reaction of light alkanes. The catalytic mechanism and reaction network are introduced. The research progress of reaction kinetics at home and abroad is reviewed. Based on continuous knowledge of reaction mechanism and the integrity of the kinetics model, the development of reaction kinetics is divided into three periods for the first time, that is, the exploration period, the forming period and the further developing period. The features and the typical models of every period are introduced. The feature of the exploration period is that the model only takes reactants' adsorption behavior on the catalyst surface into account. The feature of the forming period is that the product inhibition on the reaction is taken fully into account. The feature of the further developing period is that the oxidation degree of the catalyst with time changes and conversion among different forms of oxygen is brought into the dynamic model. Finally, we point out that the research of n-butane selective oxidation reaction kinetics will focus on the research of the interaction between kinetics and transfer process in the perspective of space-time multiscale.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Catalytic mechanism
3 Reaction network
3.1 Triangle reaction network
3.2 Reaction network involving furan route
3.3 Reaction network involving alkoxide route and furan route
4 Reaction kinetics
4.1 The exploration period
4.2 The forming period
4.3 The further developing period
5 Conclusion