Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation Using Rhodium Diphosphinites Derived From D-glucose and D-mannitol

Three diphosphinites were synthesized for preparing rhodium-diphosphinite complexes. The complexes were used for asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of amino acid precursor alpha-acetamidocinnamic acid and its methyl ester. With all complexes, D-amino acid is the most abundant product.

Preparation of Ni/bentonite catalyst and its applications in the catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline

Ni supported on bentonite was prepared by the impregnation method with different nickel contents, applied to the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline in a fixed-bed reactor, and it was characterized by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, H2-temperature programmed reduction（H2-TPR）, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry（XPS）. The results showed that Ni/bentonite catalyst with 20 wt% nickel content provided a higher conversion of nitrobenzene and selectivity of aniline compared to other catalysts. NiO was the precursor of the active component of the catalyst, and the small crystallite size as well as the highly dispersed NiO on the Ni/bentonite-20 catalyst, contributed to the catalytic performance. The hydrogenation of nitrobenzene was carried out at 300℃ with a H_2 gaseous hourly space velocity of 4800 ml·（g cat）^-1·h^-1and a nitrobenzene liquid hourly space velocity of4.8 ml·（g cat）^-1·h^-1 over Ni/bentonite-20. A 95.7% nitrobenzene conversion and 98.8% aniline selectivity were obtained. While the nitrobenzene liquid hourly space velocity was 4.8 ml·（g cat）^-1·h^-1, the yield of aniline was more than 95.0% during a 10-hour reaction.

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.

Dramatic Difference Between Cu_(20)H_(8)and Cu_(20)H_(9)Clusters in Catalysis

Sensitivity to structure and composition is very challenging to establish in nanocatalysis due to inadequate definition of structures that are very close in composition.We synthesized a pair of atomically precise copper clusters that are very close in composition,[Cu_(20)H_(9)(Tf-dpf)_(10)]·BF4(Cu_(20)H_(9))and[Cu_(20)H_(8)(Tf-dpf)_(10)]·(BF_(4))_(2)(Cu_(20)H_(8)),by using a pyridyl-functionalized flexible amidinate ligand,N,N′-di(5-trifluoromethyl-2-pyridyl)formamidinate.The one-hydride difference in their composition leads to significant variation in geometric and electronic structures and,consequently,distinctly different optical and catalytic properties.Cu_(20)H_(8)exhibits 25 times higher catalytic activity than Cu_(20)H_(9)(96.7%vs 3.7%in yield)in the selective hydrogenation of anα,β-unsaturated aldehyde(cinnamaldehyde)to saturated aldehyde(3-phenylpropanal).Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry combined with density functional theory calculations reveal that the greater ease of dissociation of one Tf-dpf ligand compared to Cu_(20)H_(8)is the key to its higher activity.This work demonstrates a clear case of structure and composition sensitivity in nanocatalysis and that one hydride,out of∼330 atoms in the nanoclusters,can make a huge difference in the catalytic activity.These insights will be useful in the design and synthesis of atomically precise nanocatalysts.

Liquid organic hydrogen carriers

The development of efficient hydrogen storage materials is one of the biggest technical challenges for the coming ＂hydrogen economy＂. The liquid organic hydrogen carriers （LOHCs） with high hydrogen contents, reversibilities and moderate dehydrogenation kinetics have been considered as an alternative option supplementing the extensively investigated inorganic hydride systems. In this review, LOHCs for long distance H2 transport and for onboard application will be discussed with the focuses of the design and development of LOHCs and their hydrogenation ＆ dehydrogenation catalyses.

Surface Engineered Ru_(2)Ni Multilayer Nanosheets for Hydrogen Oxidation Catalysis

The hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)in alkaline conditions is of great importance for the application of anion exchange membrane fuel cells(AEMFCs).However,the electrocatalysts for alkaline HOR generally suffer from the disadvantage of sluggish kinetics.Herein,we have fabricated Ru2Ni multilayered nanosheets(Ru2Ni MLNSs)in the layer-by-layer manner and engineered the surface properties via postannealing for efficient alkaline HOR.Detailed investigations reveal that such annealing at different temperatures can alter the surface properties of Ru2Ni MLNSs and thus regulate their adsorption abilities toward*H and*OH.In particular,the optimal catalyst exhibits a mass activity of 4.34 A mgRu−1 at an overpotential of 50 mV,which is 18.1 and 13.2 times higher than those of Ru/C(0.24 A mgRu−1)and Pt/C(0.33 A mgPt−1),respectively.Theoretical calculations indicate that the presence of surface O atoms can facilitate the HOR activity while the excessive coverage of O atoms on Ru2Ni surface leads to the strengthened H binding and the decay of HOR activity.This work not only provides an efficient catalyst for alkaline HOR,but it also may shed new light on the design of high-performance catalysts for electrocatalysis and beyond.We have fabricated Ru2Ni multilayer nanosheets(Ru2Ni MLNSs)and realized the surface engineering via an annealing process.Detailed investigations show that such surface engineering can regulate the surface properties and thus promote the alkaline HOR activity.Consequently,the optimal catalyst exhibits a much higher activity than those of commercial Ru/C and Pt/C and is a promising catalyst for alkaline HOR.

Face-centered cubic structured RuCu hollow urchin-like nanospheres enable remarkable hydrogen evolution catalysis

Ruthenium(Ru)is one of the most promising metals for its versatility in driving a wide range of catalytic reactions.However,owing to the intrinsic preference of hexagonal close-packed(hcp)phase for bulk Ru,currently,it is still challenging to construct Ru-based nanomaterials with face-centered-cubic(fcc)phase for optimizing their performance towards potential applications.Herein,we report a facile wet-chemical method to directly create unconventional fcc-structured Ru-copper hollow urchin-like nanospheres(fcc-RuCu HUNSs)as a class of efficient pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)electrocatalyst.Interestingly,this synthetic strategy can be expanded to prepare other fcc-Ru-based alloy nanomaterials.Significantly,the novel fcc-RuCu HUNSs exhibit superior HER performance with the overpotential of only 25,34,40,and 26 m V to reach the current density of 10 mA cm^(-2)in 0.5 M H_(2)SO_(4),0.05 M H_(2)SO_(4),0.1 M KOH,and 1 M KOH,respectively,much lower than those of hcpRuCu HUNSs and commercial Pt/C.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations further indicate that their excellent pH-universal HER performance results from the optimized adsorption free energy of H and work functions.Our work highlights the importance of phase control to design high-efficiency nanocatalysts for relevant catalytic reactions in energy conversion.

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.

Effect of hydrogen impurities on hydrogen oxidation activity of Pt/C catalyst in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

High-purity of hydrogen is vital to the guarantee of end usage in proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC)electric vehicles(EVs)with superior durability and low expense.However,the currently employed hydrogen,primarily from fossil fuel,still contains some poisoning impurities that significantly affect the durability of PEMFCs.Here,we investigate the poisoning effect of several typical hydrogen impurities(S^(2-),Cl^(-),HCOO^(-)and CO_(3)^(2-))on the hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)of the state-of-the-art carbon-supported platinum(Pt/C)catalyst used in the PEMFC anode.Electrochemical results indicate that the electrochemically active surface area of Pt/C is hampered by these hydrogen impurities with reduced effective Pt reactive sites due to the competitive adsorption against hydrogen at Pt sites showing the extent of the poisoning on Pt sites in the order:S^(2-)>Cl^(-)>HCOO^(-)>CO_(3)^(2-).Density functional theory calculations reveal that the adsorption energy of S2-on Pt(111)is greater than that of Cl^(-),HCOO^(-)and CO_(2),and the electronic structure of Pt is found to be changed due to the adsorption of impurities showing the downshift of the d-band centre of Pt that weakens the adsorption of hydrogen on the Pt sites.This work provides valuable guidance for future optimization of hydrogen quality and also emphasizes the importance of anti-poisoning anode catalyst development,especially towards H_(2)S impurities that seriously affect the durability of PEMFCs.

Novel chiral C_2-symmetric multidentate aminophosphine ligands for use in catalytic asymmetric reduction of ketones

A series of novel chiral C_2-symmetric multidentate aminophosphine ligands have been successfully synthesized by Schiff-base condensation of bis（o-formylphenyl）phenylphosphane and easily available monoprotected（1R,2R）-diaminocyclohexane.The catalytic properties of these ligands were investigated in Ir-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of various aromatic ketones,giving the corresponding optical active alcohols with up to 98%conversion and good ee under mild reaction conditions.

N-methylation of quinolines with CO2 and H2 catalyzed by Ru-triphos complexes

N-methyl-tetrahydroquinolines(MTHQs) are a kind of very useful chemicals, which can be obtained from N-methylation of amines.However, the methylation of quinolines which is a kind of highly unsaturated nitrogen-containing heterocyclic aromatic compounds has not been reported. In this work, we report the first work for the synthesis of MTHQs by methylation of quinolines using CO_2 and H_2. It was found that Ru(acac)_3-triphos [triphos: 1,1,1-tris(diphenylphosphinomethyl)ethanl] complex was very active and selective for the N-methylation reaction of quinolines, and the yield of the desired product could reach 99%.