Supported Atomically Dispersed Pd Catalyzed Direct Alkoxylation and Allylic Alkylation

A new approach to allylic alkylation is realized using an atomically dispersed palladium catalyst(Pd1/TiO2-EG).Unlike conventional methods that require derivation of substrates and utilization of additives,this method allows for direct allylic alkylation from allylic alcohols,producing H2O as the sole by-product.The catalyst's high efficiency is attributed to the local hydrogen bonding at the or-ganic-inorganic interface(Pd-EG interface),facilitating hydroxyl group activation forη3π-allyl complex formation.The system demonstrates successful direct C—O and C—C coupling reactions with high selectivity,requiring no additives.This study highlights the potential of supported atomically dispersed catalysts for greener and more efficient catalysis,meanwhile,offers unique insights into the distinct behavior of atomically dispersed catalysts in comparison to homogeneous or nanoparticle-based catalysts.

Interfacial oxidized Pd species dominate catalytic hydrogenation of polar unsaturated bonds

The determination of catalytically active sites is crucial for the design of efficient and stable catalysts toward desired reactions.However,the complexity of supported noble metal catalysts has led to controversy over the locations of catalytically active sites(e.g.,metal,support,and metal/support interface).Here we develop a structurally controllable catalyst system(Pd/SBA-15)to reveal the catalytic active sites for the selective hydrogenation of ketones to alcohol using acetophenone hydrogenation as model reaction.Systematic investigations demonstrated that unsupported Pd nanocrystals have no catalytic activity for acetophenone hydrogenation.However,oxidized Pd species were catalytically highly active for acetophenone hydrogenation.The catalytic activity decreased with the decreased oxidation state of Pd.This work provides insights into the hydrogenation mechanism of ketones but also other unsaturated compounds containing polar bonds,e.g.,nitrobenzene,N-benzylidene-benzylamine,and carbon dioxide.

自还原法合成超小尺寸钯加氢催化剂

负载型超小尺寸金属纳米颗粒在多相催化过程中表现出优异的催化性能.虽然已经发展了一些合成方法,但仍缺少便捷地合成超小尺寸催化剂的方法.通常情况下,加氢金属催化剂往往需要经过高温还原过程.但过量的还原剂,如H2,会导致金属纳米颗粒的聚集.本研究利用含有有机配体的钯前驱体合成了金属氧化物负载的超小尺寸钯催化剂.在惰性气氛下,通过简单的煅烧即可得到尺寸均一、超小的Pd纳米颗粒(~1 nm).有机配体中的-CHx基团与氧化物载体的表面氧物种反应促进了Pd物种的还原.同时,反应过程中原位产生的CO和氧空位稳定了超小尺寸纳米颗粒.该方法所制备得到的催化剂具有较高的抗烧结能力、优异和稳定的催化加氢反应性能.

Surface Coordination Decouples Hydrogenation Catalysis on Supported Metal Catalysts

Supported metal catalysts integrating advantages of catalytic hydrogenation and stoichiometric reduction are highly desirable for the green production of fine chemicals.Decoupling catalytic hydrogenation into H_(2)activation and selective reduction taking place at different locations is expected to provide an effective strategy to fabricate such catalyst systems.Herein,we report a decoupled hydrogenation system by modifying Pt catalysts supported on reducible In2O3 with ethylenediamine(EDA).The system exhibits good catalytic performance in oximes production from nitroalkanes,an industrially important reaction,by employing H_(2).Systematic studies demonstrate that the surface coordination of EDA on Pt is crucial to passivate the Pt surface from nitro hydrogenation without inhibiting H_(2)activation.The activated H_(2)species can then transfer and reduce the In_(2)O_(3)support in situ to generate sustainable stoichiometric reducing agents for the chemoselective reduction of nitroalkanes.Based upon the mechanistic understanding,a sustainable strategy for the production of oximes has been successfully fabricated.

金属纳米材料表面配体聚集效应

金属纳米材料表面配体不仅可以稳定金属纳米颗粒,辅助合成特定尺寸和形貌的纳米材料,还可用于调控金属纳米颗粒的表面化学性质。由于现有表征技术的局限性,金属纳米材料表面有机配体的结构和功能一直以来并未被深入研究。得益于分子结构明确金属纳米团簇和其他模型纳米材料体系的发展,配体在金属纳米材料表面的精确配位结构及其对催化过程的促进作用正不断被揭示出来。金属表面有机分子配位不仅可以调控表面金属电子结构,还可以分割表面原子周期性结构。表面有机配体的聚集可以进一步在金属表面构筑3D空间结构,改变纳米材料亲疏水性,并影响催化底物和反应中间体与表面的相互作用强弱和吸附构型。此外,有机配体与表面金属所组成的界面还可以构筑新的活性位点,改变催化反应路径,从而提升催化反应活性和选择性。金属纳米材料表面有机配体的聚集效应使得异相纳米材料可以同时表现出均相催化和酶催化的优势。

A vicinal effect for promoting catalysis of Pd1/TiO2:supports of atomically dispersed catalysts play more roles than simply serving as ligands

Atomically dispersing metal atoms on supports has been emerging as an effective strategy to maximize the atom utilization of metals for catalysis. However, due to the lack of effective tools to characterize the detailed structure of metal-support interface, the chemical functions of supports in atomically dispersed metal catalysts are hardly elucidated at the molecular level. In this work, an atomically dispersed Pd_1/TiO_2 catalyst with Ti(Ⅲ) vicinal to Pd is prepared and used to demonstrate the direct involvement of metal atoms on support in the catalysis of dispersed metal atoms. Systematic studies reveal that the Ti(Ⅲ)-O-Pd interface facilitates the activation of O_2 into superoxide(O_2^-), thus promoting the catalytic oxidation. The catalyst exhibits the highest CO turn-over frequency among ever-reported Pd-based catalysts,and enhanced catalysis in the combustion of harmful volatile organic compound(i.e., toluene) and greenhouse gas(i.e., methane). The demonstrated direct involvement of metal atoms on oxide support suggests that the real active sites of atomically dispersed metal catalysts can be far beyond isolated metal atoms themselves. Metal atoms on oxide supports in the vicinity serve as another vector to promote the catalysis of atomically dispersed metal catalysts.

Air-promoted selective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone at low temperature over Pd-based nanocatalysts

Attaining high activity with high selectivity at low temperature is challenging in the selective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone due to its high activation energy(E_a, 55–70 kJ/mol). Here we report a simple and efficient strategy for phenol hydrogenation catalyzed by Pd in aqueous phase at 30 °C by introducing air to promote the catalysis. With the assistance of air, >99% conversion and >99% selectivity were achieved over Pd(111)/Al_2O_3 with an overall turnover frequency(TOF) of621 h^(-1), ~80 times greater than that of the state-of-art Pd catalyst at 30 °C. Mechanism studies revealed that phenol was activated to generate phenoxyl radicals. The radicals were yielded from the reaction between phenol and hydroxyl radicals in the presence of hydrogen, oxygen and protic solvent on Pd. The phenoxyl pathway resulted in a low apparent E_a(8.2 kJ/mol) and thus high activity. More importantly, this strategy of activating substrate by air can be adapted to other Pd based catalysts, offering a new thinking for the rational design of cyclohexanone production in industry.

Cu_(2)O-SupportedAtomicallyDispersed Pd Catalysts for Semihydrogenation of Terminal Alkynes: Critical Role of Oxide Supports

Atomically dispersed catalysts have demonstrated superior catalytic performance in many chemical transformations.However,limited success has been achieved in applying oxide-supported atomically dis-persed catalysts to semihydrogenation of alkynes under mild conditions.

A facile one-pot synthesis of supercubes of Pt nanocubes

A facile one-pot synthetic strategy is developed to prepare high-quality Pt supercubes. The as-synthesized Pt supercubes are composed of the uniform Pt nanocubes arranged in a primitive cubic structure. The shape and size of the Pt superparticles are readily tuned by varying the structures of pyridyl-containing ligands used in the synthesis. The co-presence of CO and nitrogen-containing ligands is critical to the formation of Pt supercubes. While CO molecules play an important role in the synthesis of Pt nanocube, introducing nitrogen-containing ligands is essential to the successful assembly of those nanocubes into Pt supercubes. Our systematic studies reveal that the electrostatic attraction between positively charged ligands and negatively charged Pt nanocubes is the main driving force for the assembly of Pt nanocubes into supercubes. More importantly, the ligands within the Pt supercubes are readily removed at relatively low temperature to yield surface-clean supercubes which are expected to exhibit unique size-selective catalysis.

Non-contact biomimetic mechanism for selective hydrogenation of nitroaromatics on heterogeneous metal nanocatalysts

While the enzymatic reduction of unsaturated compounds usually has high specificity,highly selective reduction processes are hardly realized by heterogeneous industrial catalysts,which is critical for the green production of many fine chemicals.Here,we report an unexpected discovery of a biomimetic behavior of dicyandiamide(DICY)-modified Pt nanocatalysts for the green hydrogenation of a wide range of nitroaromatics.We demonstrate that the surface modification by DICY not only prevents the direct contact of nitroaromatic reactants with Pt surface but also induces an effective non-contact hydrogenation mechanism mediated by protons and electrons.In such a process,the DICY layer serves as a“semi-permeable membrane”to allow the permeation of H_(2) molecules for being activated into electrons and protons at the Pt-DICY interface.With the generation of separated protons and electrons,the nitro group with strong electrophilic properties can be hydrogenated through the electron transfer followed by the proton transfer,which is facilitated by the hydrogen bonding network formed by protonated DICY.The unique mechanism makes it highly directional toward the hydrogenation of nitro groups without side reactions.Owing to its capability to largely eliminate the waste generation,the developed Pt-DICY catalysts have been successfully applied for the green industrial production of many important aniline intermediates.

Carbon Monoxide Promotes the Catalytic Hydrogenation on Metal Cluster Catalysts

Size effect plays a crucial role in catalytic hydrogenation.The highly dispersed ultrasmall clusters with a limited number of metal atoms are one candidate of the next generation catalysts that bridge the single-atom metal catalysts and metal nanoparticles.However,for the unfavorable electronic property and their interaction with the substrates,they usually exhibit sluggish activity.Taking advantage of the small size,their catalytic property would be mediated by surface binding species.The combination of metal cluster coordination chemistry brings new opportunity.CO poisoning is notorious for Pt group metal catalysts as the strong adsorption of CO would block the active centers.In this work,we will demonstrate that CO could serve as a promoter for the catalytic hydrogenation when ultrasmall Pd clusters are employed.By means of DFT calculations,we show that Pd_(n)(n=2-147)clusters display sluggish activity for hydrogenation due to the too strong binding of hydrogen atom and reaction intermediates thereon,whereas introducing CO would reduce the binding energies of vicinal sites,thus enhancing the hydrogenation reaction.Experimentally,supported Pd_(2)CO catalysts are fabricated by depositing preestablished[Pd_(2)(μ-CO)_(2)Cl_(4)]2-clusters on oxides and demonstrated as an outstanding catalyst for the hydrogenation of styrene.The promoting effect of CO is further verified experimentally by removing and reintroducing a proper amount of CO on the Pd cluster catalysts.