Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Item
    Controlling the speciation and reactivity of carbon-supported gold nanostructures for catalysed acetylene hydrochlorination
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2018) Kaiser, Selina K.; Lin, Ronghe; Mitchell, Sharon; Fako, Edvin; Krumeich, Frank; Hauert, Roland; Safonova, Olga V.; Kondratenko, Vita A.; Kondratenko, Evgenii V.; Collins, Sean M.; Midgley, Paul A.; López, Núria; Pérez-Ramírez, Javier
    Carbon-supported gold catalysts have the potential to replace the toxic mercuric chloride-based system applied industrially for acetylene hydrochlorination, a key technology for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride. However, the design of an optimal catalyst is essentially hindered by the difficulties in assessing the nature of the active site. Herein, we present a platform of carbon supported gold nanostructures at a fixed metal loading, ranging from single atoms of tunable oxidation state and coordination to metallic nanoparticles, by varying the structure of functionalised carbons and use of thermal activation. While on activated carbon particle aggregation occurs progressively above 473 K, on nitrogen-doped carbon gold single atoms exhibit outstanding stability up to temperatures of 1073 K and under reaction conditions. By combining steady-state experiments, density functional theory, and transient mechanistic studies, we assess the relation between the metal speciation, electronic properties, and catalytic activity. The results indicate that the activity of gold-based catalysts correlates with the population of Au(i)Cl single atoms and the reaction follows a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. Strong interaction with HCl and thermodynamically favoured acetylene activation were identified as the key features of the Au(i)Cl sites that endow their superior catalytic performance in comparison to N-stabilised Au(iii) counterparts and gold nanoparticles. Finally, we show that the carrier (activated carbon versus nitrogen-doped carbon) does not affect the catalytic response, but determines the deactivation mechanism (gold particle aggregation and pore blockage, respectively), which opens up different options for the development of stable, high-performance hydrochlorination catalysts. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
  • Item
    Highly selective hydrogenation of amides catalysed by a molybdenum pincer complex : Scope and mechanism
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2019) Leischner, Thomas; Suarez, Lluis Artús; Spannenberg, Anke; Nova, Ainara; Junge, Kathrin; Nova, Ainara; Beller, Matthias
    A series of molybdenum pincer complexes has been shown for the first time to be active in the catalytic hydrogenation of amides. Among the tested catalysts, Mo-1a proved to be particularly well suited for the selective C-N hydrogenolysis of N-methylated formanilides. Notably, high chemoselectivity was observed in the presence of certain reducible groups including even other amides. The general catalytic performance as well as selectivity issues could be rationalized taking an anionic Mo(0) as the active species. The interplay between the amide CO reduction and the catalyst poisoning by primary amides accounts for the selective hydrogenation of N-methylated formanilides. The catalyst resting state was found to be a Mo-alkoxo complex formed by reaction with the alcohol product. This species plays two opposed roles-it facilitates the protolytic cleavage of the C-N bond but it encumbers the activation of hydrogen. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
  • Item
    CpCo(i) precatalysts for [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions : Synthesis and reactivity
    (London : RSC Publ., 2020) Fischer, Fabian; Pientka, Tobias; Jiao, Haijun; Spannenberg, Anke; Hapke, Marko
    The efficient synthesis and structural characterisation of a series of novel CpCo(i)-olefin-phosphite/phosphoramidite complexes and their evaluation in catalytic cyclotrimerisation reactions are reported. The protocol for precatalyst synthesis is widely applicable to different P-containing ligands, especially phosphites and phosphoramidites, as well as acyclic and cyclic olefins. A selection of the prepared complexes was investigated towards their catalytic performance in [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of diynes and nitriles, as well as triynes. While revealing significant differences in reactivity, the most reactive precatalysts work even already at 75 °C. One of these precatalysts also proved its potential in exemplary (co)cyclotrimerisations towards functionalised pyridines and benzenes. The energetics of complex formation and exemplary ligand exchange with a substrate diyne were elucidated by theoretical calculations and compared with the catalytic reactivity. © 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry.