Tuning the support acidity of flame-made Pd/SiO2–Al2O3 catalysts for chemoselective hydrogenation

Photocatalytic hydrogenation of acetophenone on a titanium dioxide cellulose film

A previously developed sustainable immobilization concept for photocatalysts based on cellulose as a renewable support material was applied for the photocatalytic hydrogenation of acetophenone (ACP) to 1-phenyl ethanol (PE). Four different TiO2 modifications (P25, P90, PC105, and PC500) were screened for the reaction showing good performance for PC25 and PC500. PC500 was selected for a detailed kinetic study to find the optimal operating conditions, and to obtain a better understanding of the photocatalytic pathway in relation to conventional and transfer hydrogenation. The kinetic data were analyzed using the pseudo-first-order reaction rate law. A complete conversion was obtained for ACP concentrations below 1 mM using a 360 nm filter and argon as the purge gas within 2-3 hours. High oxygen concentrations slow down or prevent the reaction, and wavelengths below 300 nm lead to side-products. By investigating the temperature dependency, an activation energy of 22 kJ mol-1 was determined which is lower than the activation energies for conventional and transfer hydrogenation, because the light activation of the photocatalyst turns the endothermic to an exothermic reaction. PC500 was immobilized onto the cellulose film showing a 37% lower activity that remains almost constant after multiple use.

Intensifying strategy of ionic liquids for Pd-based catalysts in anthraquinone hydrogenation

Pd–IL complex catalyst was first employed in anthraquinone hydrogenation. ILs are uniformly dispersed around Pd species, which adjust acidic sites, accomplish charge transfers, stretch CO bond lengths and promote occurrence of desirable reactions.

Engineering the Distinct Structure Interface of Subnano-alumina Domains on Silica for Acidic Amorphous Silica-Alumina toward Biorefining

Amorphous silica-aluminas (ASAs) are important solid catalysts and supports for many industrially essential and sustainable processes, such as hydrocarbon transformation and biorefining. However, the wide distribution of acid strength on ASAs often results in undesired side reactions, lowering the product selectivity. Here we developed a strategy for the synthesis of a unique class of ASAs with unvarying strength of Brønsted acid sites (BAS) and Lewis acid sites (LAS) using double-flame-spray pyrolysis. Structural characterization using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy showed that the uniform acidity is due to a distinct nanostructure, characterized by a uniform interface of silica-alumina and homogeneously dispersed alumina domains. The BAS population density of as-prepared ASAs is up to 6 times higher than that obtained by classical methods. The BAS/LAS ratio, as well as the population densities of BAS and LAS of these ASAs, could be tuned in a broad range. In cyclohexanol dehydration, the uniform Brønsted acid strength provides a high selectivity to cyclohexene and a nearly linear correlation between acid site densities and cyclohexanol conversion. Moreover, the concerted action of these BAS and LAS leads to an excellent bifunctional Brønsted-Lewis acid catalyst for glucose dehydration, affording a superior 5-hydroxymethylfurfural yield.

Formation and Location of Pt Single Sites Induced by Pentacoordinated Al Species on Amorphous Silica-Alumina

Alumina and its mixed oxides are popular industrial supports for emerging supported metal catalysts. Pentacoordinated Al (Al^V) species are identified as key surface sites for anchoring and stabilizing metal single-site catalysts; however, Al^V is rare in conventional amorphous silica-alumina (ASA). Recently, we have developed Al^V-enriched ASA, which was applied as a support for the synthesis of Pt single-site catalysts in this work. Each preparation stage and the interaction between Pt and surface Al species were explored by ¹H and ²⁷Al solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and the formation of the dominant Pt single sites on the surface of Al^V-enriched ASA was confirmed by high-angle annular dark-field imaging scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy line scanning. On the surface of supports without a significant Al^V population (Pt/Al₂O₃ and Pt/SiO₂), mainly Pt nanoparticles were formed. This indicates that Al^V contributes to the strong metal-support interaction to stabilize the Pt single sites on Pt/ASA, which was characterized by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy combined with CO adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Pt single sites supported on Al^V-enriched ASA exhibit excellent chemoselectivity in the hydrogenation of C═O groups, affording 2-3-fold higher yields compared to those of Pt nanoparticles supported on Al₂O₃ and SiO₂.

Metal-based Heterogeneous Catalysts for One-Pot Synthesis of Secondary Anilines from Nitroarenes and Aldehydes

Recently, N-substituted anilines have been the object of increasing research interest in the field of organic chemistry due to their role as key intermediates for the synthesis of important compounds such as polymers, dyes, drugs, agrochemicals and pharmaceutical products. Among the various methods reported in literature for the formation of C-N bonds to access secondary anilines, the one-pot reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes is the most interesting procedure, because it allows to obtain diverse N-substituted aryl amines by simple reduction of nitro compounds followed by condensation with aldehydes and subsequent reduction of the imine intermediates. These kinds of tandem reactions are generally catalyzed by transition metal-based catalysts, mainly potentially reusable metal nanoparticles. The rapid growth in the last years in the field of metal-based heterogeneous catalysts for the one-pot reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes demands for a review on the state of the art with a special emphasis on the different kinds of metals used as catalysts and their recyclability features.

Highly selective hydrogenation of aromatic ketones to alcohols in water: effect of PdO and ZrO2

Pd/ZrO2 and PdO/ZrO2 composites, containing Pd or PdO nanoparticles, were prepared using an original one-step methodology. These nanocomposites catalyze the hydrogenation of acetophenone (AP) at 1 bar and 10 bar of H2 in an aqueous solution. Compared to unsupported Pd or PdO nanoparticles, a remarkable increase in their activity was achieved as a result of interaction with zirconia. An unsupported PdO hydrogenated AP mainly to ethylbenzene (EB), while excellent regioselectivity towards 1-phenylethanol (PE) was obtained with PdO/ZrO2 and it was preserved during recycling. Similarly, regioselectivity to PE was higher with Pd/ZrO2 compared to unsupported Pd NPs. PdO and zirconia resulted in high selectivity to alcohols in the hydrogenation of substituted acetophenones.

Selective Hydrogenations and Dechlorinations in Water Mediated by Anionic Surfactant-Stabilized Pd Nanoparticles

We report a facile, inexpensive, and green method for the preparation of Pd nanoparticles in aqueous medium stabilized by anionic sulfonated surfactants sodium 1-dodecanesulfonate 1a, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate 1b, dioctyl sulfosuccinate sodium salt 1c, and poly(ethylene glycol) 4-nonylphenyl-3-sulfopropyl ether potassium salt 1d simply obtained by stirring aqueous solutions of Pd(OAc)₂ with the commercial anionic surfactants further treated under hydrogen atmosphere for variable amounts of time. The aqueous Pd nanoparticle solutions were tested in the selective hydrogenation reactions of aryl-alcohols, -aldehydes, and -ketones, leading to complete conversion to the deoxygenated products even in the absence of strong Brønsted acids in the reduction of aromatic aldehydes and ketones, in the controlled semihydrogenation of alkynes leading to alkenes, and in the efficient hydrodechlorination of aromatic substrates. In all cases, the micellar media were crucial for stabilizing the metal nanoparticles, dissolving substrates, steering product selectivity, and enabling recycling. What is interesting is also that a benchmark catalyst like Pd/C can often be surpassed in activity and/or selectivity in the reactions tested by simply switching to the appropriate commercially available surfactant, thereby providing an easy to use, flexible, and practical catalytic system capable of efficiently addressing a variety of synthetically significant hydrogenation reactions.

Brønsted acid sites based on penta-coordinated aluminum species

Zeolites and amorphous silica-alumina (ASA), which both provide Brønsted acid sites (BASs), are the most extensively used solid acid catalysts in the chemical industry. It is widely believed that BASs consist only of tetra-coordinated aluminum sites (AlIV) with bridging OH groups in zeolites or nearby silanols on ASA surfaces. Here we report the direct observation in ASA of a new type of BAS based on penta-coordinated aluminum species (AlV) by 27Al-{1H} dipolar-mediated correlation two-dimensional NMR experiments at high magnetic field under magic-angle spinning. Both BAS-AlIV and -AlV show a similar acidity to protonate probe molecular ammonia. The quantitative evaluation of 1H and 27Al sites demonstrates that BAS-AlV co-exists with BAS-AlIV rather than replaces it, which opens new avenues for strongly enhancing the acidity of these popular solid acids.

Operando NMR spectroscopic analysis of proton transfer in heterogeneous photocatalytic reactions

Proton transfer (PT) processes in solid-liquid phases play central roles throughout chemistry, biology and materials science. Identification of PT routes deep into the realistic catalytic process is experimentally challenging, thus leaving a gap in our understanding. Here we demonstrate an approach using operando nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy that allows to quantitatively describe the complex species dynamics of generated H2/HD gases and liquid intermediates in pmol resolution during photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this system, the effective protons for HER are mainly from H2O, and CH3OH evidently serves as an outstanding sacrificial agent reacting with holes, further supported by our density functional theory calculations. This results rule out controversy about the complicated proton sources for HER. The operando NMR method provides a direct molecular-level insight with the methodology offering exciting possibilities for the quantitative studies of mechanisms of proton-involved catalytic reactions in solid-liquid phases.

Synthesis of catalytic materials in flames: opportunities and challenges

In this review we identify the crucial factors for the synthesis of catalytic materials by flame methods and examine their potential for controlling the chemical, physical and catalytic properties of as made catalysts.

Influence of support acidity on the performance of size-confined Pt nanoparticles in the chemoselective hydrogenation of acetophenone

Chemoselectivity of hydrogenation depends on strength of the covered BAS, whereas the free BAS enhance the rate.

Efficient solvent-free hydrogenation of ketones over flame-prepared bimetallic Pt-Pd/ZrO(2) catalysts

Named and flamed: Bimetallic Pt-Pd/ZrO(2) catalysts with different Pt/Pd atomic ratios and high dispersion of the metal nanoparticles are prepared by a single-step flame-spray pyrolysis. The catalysts show excellent activity and tunable product selectivity for the solvent-free hydrogenation of the ketone model compounds cyclopentanone and acetophenone.