The invention provides a hydrophilic modified
molecular sieve-based catalyst as well as a preparation method and application thereof, and the method comprises the following steps: mixing a
molecular sieve carrier, a
titanium-containing compound and a
solvent, carrying out dipping treatment, and then
drying and calcining to obtain a
titanium-loaded
molecular sieve; mixing the
titanium-loaded molecular
sieve with a sulfydryl
silanization reagent and an
organic solvent, carrying out a modification reaction, and carrying out separation treatment to obtain a sulfydryl modified intermediate; mixing the sulfydryl modified intermediate with an
oxidizing agent solution for reaction, and separating and
drying to obtain the hydrophilic modified molecular
sieve based catalyst. The catalyst is used for catalytically converting a
biomass-derived phenolic compound into a
polyphenol antioxidant, and the density of water molecules in an
active site adjacent region can be enhanced under the synergism of a-SO3H group and TiO2, so that the contact between a hydrated
hydrogen ion cluster and the phenolic compound is enhanced to improve the yield of the
polyphenol compound.