Pt nanoparticles entrapped in ordered mesoporous carbons: An efficient catalyst for the liquid-phase hydrogenation of nitrobenzene and its derivatives

Hybrid Nanostructure Catalyst with Low Loading of Pt for the High-Efficiency Catalytic Hydrogenation of Chloronitrobenzene

Fabrication of low-loading, noble-metal, stable, and high-performance metal catalysts remains a thorny issue. Herein, we demonstrate the successful formation of a hybrid nanostructure Pt/TiO₂/SBA-15 catalyst (denoted as HNSC-P/T/S; Pt, 0.09%; TiO₂, 10%) with satisfactory activity in the hydrogenation of para-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB). The HNSC-P/T/S showed >99% conversion and a high selectivity of >98%, and the turnover frequency number (TOF) reached 66 766 h^-1, which was impossible to achieve with Pt/TiO₂ (denoted as P/T) or Pt/SBA-15 (denoted as P/S). The success of the catalytic activity of the HNSC-P/T/S mainly relies on its synergistic effect and special structure, which can fully develop the catalytic ability of Pt, thereby reducing the Pt loading in the noble-based catalyst. Furthermore, the HNSC-P/T/S could also achieve an excellent catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of other nitroarenes. Hence, this work proposes a direction to prepare a noble-based catalyst with a low loading of noble metals for diverse applications.

Comparison of Catalysts with MIRA21 Model in Heterogeneous Catalytic Hydrogenation of Aromatic Nitro Compounds

The vast majority of research and development activities begins with a detailed literature search to explore the current state-of-the-art. However, this search becomes increasingly difficult as we go into the information revolution of 21st century. The aim of the work is to establish a functional and practical mathematical model of catalyst characterization and exact comparison of catalysts. This work outlines the operation of the MIskolc RAnking 21 (MIRA21) model through the reaction of nitrobenzene catalytic hydrogenation to aniline. A total of 154 catalysts from 45 research articles were selected, studied, characterized, ranked, and classified based on four classes of descriptors: catalyst performance, reaction conditions, catalyst conditions, and sustainability parameters. MIRA21 is able to increase the comparability of different types of catalysts and support catalyst development. According to the model, 8% of catalysts received D1 (top 10%) classification. This ranking model is able to show the most effective catalyst systems that are suitable for the production of aniline.

Pre-Coking Strategy Strengthening Stability Performance of Supported Nickel Catalysts in Chloronitrobenzene Hydrogenation

Supported nickel catalysts represent a class of important catalytic materials in selective hydrogenations, but applications are frequently limited by metal agglomeration or active-site blocking induced by the presence of hydrogen halides. Herein, we report a novel pre-coking strategy, exposing the nickel nanoparticles under methane dry reforming conditions to manipulate performance in the continuous-flow hydrogenation of 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene. Compared with the pristine nickel catalyst, the nanotube-like coke-modified nickel catalyst showed weakened hydrogenating ability, but much improved stability and slightly better selectivity to the target product, 3,4-dichloroaniline. Characterization results revealed that the strengthened stability performance can be mainly linked to the reduced propensity to retain chlorine species, which seems to block the access of the substrate molecules to the active sites, and thus is a major cause of catalyst deactivation on the pristine nickel catalyst. Coke deposition can occur on the pre-coked nickel catalyst but not on the pristine analog; however, the impact on the stability performance is much milder compared with that on chlorine uptake. In addition, the presence of coke is also beneficial in restraining the growth of the nickel nanoparticles. Generally, the developed method might provide an alternative perspective on the design of novel transition-metal-based catalytic materials for other hydrogenation applications under harsh conditions.

In situ creation of multi-metallic species inside porous silicate materials with tunable catalytic properties

Porous metal silicate (PMS) material PMS-11, consisting of uniformly distributed multi-metallic species inside the pores, is synthesized by using a discrete multi-metal coordination complex as the template, demonstrating high catalytic activity and selectivity in hydrogenation of halogenated nitrobenzenes by synergistically activating different reactant molecules via Ni and Co transition metal centers, while GdIII Lewis acid sites play a role in tuning the catalytic properties.

Pt nanoparticles on Ti3C2Tx-based MXenes as efficient catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of nitroaromatic compounds to amines

The development of Pt nanocatalysts for the selective hydrogenation of nitroaromatic compounds to the corresponding amines is of great significance to solve the drawbacks associated with a low reserve of Pt. Herein, we develop a protocol for the preparation of a Pt/titanium carbide-based MXene heterostructure for the selective reduction of nitroaromatic compounds. In the heterostructure, well-defined and nano-sized metallic Pt crystallites are uniformly decorated on Ti3C2Tx nanosheets using a mild reducing agent of ammonia borane without additional stabilizing agents. The selective hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) to p-chloroaniline (p-CAN) was employed as a model reaction to investigate the catalytic performance of the as-synthesized heterostructure, denoted as Pt/Ti3C2Tx-D-AB. Notably, this catalyst can catalyze the complete conversion of p-CNB to p-CAN with 99.5% selectivity, superior to that of Pt/Ti3C2Tx-D-SB synthesized with sodium borohydride. The high performance of the present catalytic system can be ascribed to the well-dispersed Pt nanoparticles, the abundant surface electron-efficient Pt(0), and the synergistic catalysis between Pt/Ti3C2Tx-D-AB and water. This catalyst also shows generality toward the selective hydrogenation of a series of nitroaromatic compounds to the corresponding amines with high efficiency. The present study provides a strategy to synthesize efficient catalysts for catalytic applications.