David D. Hibbitts

Reactivity of the Gold/Water Interface During Selective Oxidation Catalysis

Indirect Oxidation by Oxygen Partial oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones must avoid complete oxidation to carbon dioxide and water. Zope et al. (p. 74) examined the partial oxidation of ethanol and glycerol to acids in alkaline aqueous solvents over gold and platinum catalysts. Conversions were highest for gold supported on titania, but studies with isotopically labeled molecular oxygen showed that oxygen incorporated into the acid comes from hydroxide ions. Direct incorporation of oxygen did not occur even for the platinum catalysts, despite the fact that oxygen can dissociate on this metal. Instead, molecular oxygen appeared to regenerate hydroxide ions at the metal surface through the formation of peroxide intermediates. Hydroxide at the metal/liquid interface promotes the catalytic activity of gold during the partial oxidation of alcohols. The selective oxidation of alcohols in aqueous phase over supported metal catalysts is facilitated by high-pH conditions. We have studied the mechanism of ethanol and glycerol oxidation to acids over various supported gold and platinum catalysts. Labeling experiments with 18O2 and H218O demonstrate that oxygen atoms originating from hydroxide ions instead of molecular oxygen are incorporated into the alcohol during the oxidation reaction. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the reaction path involves both solution-mediated and metal-catalyzed elementary steps. Molecular oxygen is proposed to participate in the catalytic cycle not by dissociation to atomic oxygen but by regenerating hydroxide ions formed via the catalytic decomposition of a peroxide intermediate.

Selective Hydrogenolysis of Polyols and Cyclic Ethers over Bifunctional Surface Sites on Rhodium–Rhenium Catalysts

A ReO(x)-promoted Rh/C catalyst is shown to be selective in the hydrogenolysis of secondary C-O bonds for a broad range of cyclic ethers and polyols, these being important classes of compounds in biomass-derived feedstocks. Experimentally observed reactivity trends, NH(3) temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) profiles, and results from theoretical calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) are consistent with the hypothesis of a bifunctional catalyst that facilitates selective hydrogenolysis of C-O bonds by acid-catalyzed ring-opening and dehydration reactions coupled with metal-catalyzed hydrogenation. The presence of surface acid sites on 4 wt % Rh-ReO(x)/C (1:0.5) was confirmed by NH(3) TPD, and the estimated acid site density and standard enthalpy of NH(3) adsorption were 40 μmol g(-1) and -100 kJ mol(-1), respectively. Results from DFT calculations suggest that hydroxyl groups on rhenium atoms associated with rhodium are acidic, due to the strong binding of oxygen atoms by rhenium, and these groups are likely responsible for proton donation leading to the formation of carbenium ion transition states. Accordingly, the observed reactivity trends are consistent with the stabilization of resulting carbenium ion structures that form upon ring-opening or dehydration. The presence of hydroxyl groups that reside α to carbon in the C-O bond undergoing scission can form oxocarbenium ion intermediates that significantly stabilize the resulting transition states. The mechanistic insights from this work may be extended to provide a general description of a new class of bifunctional heterogeneous catalysts, based on the combination of a highly reducible metal with an oxophilic metal, for the selective C-O hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived feedstocks.

Mechanistic Role of Water on the Rate and Selectivity of Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis on Ruthenium Catalysts†

Water increases Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) rates on Ru through H-shuttling processes. Chemisorbed hydrogen (H*) transfers its electron to the metal and protonates the O-atom of CO* to form COH*, which subsequently hydrogenates to *HCOH* in the kinetically relevant step. H2 O also increases the chain length of FTS products by mediating the H-transfer steps during reactions of alkyl groups with CO* to form longer-chain alkylidynes and OH*.

Kinetic and Mechanistic Assessment of Alkanol/Alkanal Decarbonylation and Deoxygenation Pathways on Metal Catalysts.

This study combines theory and experiment to determine the kinetically relevant steps and site requirements for deoxygenation of alkanols and alkanals. These reactants deoxygenate predominantly via decarbonylation (C-C cleavage) instead of C-O hydrogenolysis on Ir, Pt, and Ru, leading to strong inhibition effects by chemisorbed CO (CO*). C-C cleavage occurs via unsaturated species formed in sequential quasi-equilibrated dehydrogenation steps, which replace C-H with C-metal bonds, resulting in strong inhibition by H2, also observed in alkane hydrogenolysis. C-C cleavage occurs in oxygenates only at locations vicinal to the C═O group in RCCO* intermediates, because such adjacency weakens C-C bonds, which also leads to much lower activation enthalpies for oxygenates than hydrocarbons. C-O hydrogenolysis rates are independent of H2 pressure and limited by H*-assisted C-O cleavage in RCHOH* intermediates on surfaces with significant coverages of CO* formed in decarbonylation events. The ratio of C-O hydrogenolysis to decarbonylation rates increased almost 100-fold as the Ir cluster size increased from 0.7 to 7 nm; these trends reflect C-O hydrogenolysis reactions favored on terrace sites, while C-C hydrogenolysis prefers sites with lower coordination, because of the relative size of their transition states and the crowded nature of CO*-covered surfaces. C-O hydrogenolysis becomes the preferred deoxygenation route on Cu-based catalysts, thus avoiding CO inhibition effects. The relative rates of C-O and C-C cleavage on these metals depend on their relative ability to bind C atoms, because C-C cleavage transitions states require an additional M-C attachment.

Metal-Catalyzed C–C Bond Cleavage in Alkanes: Effects of Methyl Substitution on Transition-State Structures and Stability

Methyl substituents at C-C bonds influence hydrogenolysis rates and selectivities of acyclic and cyclic C2-C8 alkanes on Ir, Rh, Ru, and Pt catalysts. C-C cleavage transition states form via equilibrated dehydrogenation steps that replace several C-H bonds with C-metal bonds, desorb H atoms (H*) from saturated surfaces, and form λ H2(g) molecules. Activation enthalpies (ΔH(‡)) and entropies (ΔS(‡)) and λ values for (3)C-(x)C cleavage are larger than for (2)C-(2)C or (2)C-(1)C bonds, irrespective of the composition of metal clusters or the cyclic/acyclic structure of the reactants. (3)C-(x)C bonds cleave through α,β,γ- or α,β,γ,δ-bound transition states, as indicated by the agreement between measured activation entropies and those estimated for such structures using statistical mechanics. In contrast, less substituted C-C bonds involve α,β-bound species with each C atom bound to several surface atoms. These α,β configurations weaken C-C bonds through back-donation to antibonding orbitals, but such configurations cannot form with (3)C atoms, which have one C-H bond and thus can form only one C-M bond. (3)C-(x)C cleavage involves attachment of other C atoms, which requires endothermic C-H activation and H* desorption steps that lead to larger ΔH(‡) values but also larger ΔS(‡) values (by forming more H2(g)) than for (2)C-(2)C and (2)C-(1)C bonds, irrespective of alkane size (C2-C8) or cyclic/acyclic structure. These data and their mechanistic interpretation indicate that low temperatures and high H2 pressures favor cleavage of less substituted C-C bonds and form more highly branched products from cyclic and acyclic alkanes. Such interpretations and catalytic consequences of substitution seem also relevant to C-X cleavage (X = S, N, O) in desulfurization, denitrogenation, and deoxygenation reactions.

Interfacial charge distributions in carbon-supported palladium catalysts

Controlling the charge transfer between a semiconducting catalyst carrier and the supported transition metal active phase represents an elite strategy for fine turning the electronic structure of the catalytic centers, hence their activity and selectivity. These phenomena have been theoretically and experimentally elucidated for oxide supports but remain poorly understood for carbons due to their complex nanoscale structure. Here, we combine advanced spectroscopy and microscopy on model Pd/C samples to decouple the electronic and surface chemistry effects on catalytic performance. Our investigations reveal trends between the charge distribution at the palladium–carbon interface and the metal’s selectivity for hydrogenation of multifunctional chemicals. These electronic effects are strong enough to affect the performance of large (~5 nm) Pd particles. Our results also demonstrate how simple thermal treatments can be used to tune the interfacial charge distribution, hereby providing a strategy to rationally design carbon-supported catalysts.Control over charge transfer in carbon-supported metal nanoparticles is essential for designing new catalysts. Here, the authors show that thermal treatments effectively tune the interfacial charge distribution in carbon-supported palladium catalysts with consequential changes in hydrogenation performance.

Dense CO Adlayers as Enablers of CO Hydrogenation Turnovers on Ru Surfaces

High CO* coverages lead to rates much higher than Langmuirian treatments predict because co-adsorbate interactions destabilize relevant transition states less than their bound precursors. This is shown here by kinetic and spectroscopic data-interpreted by rate equations modified for thermodynamically nonideal surfaces-and by DFT treatments of CO-covered Ru clusters and lattice models that mimic adlayer densification. At conditions (0.01-1 kPa CO; 500-600 K) which create low CO* coverages (0.3-0.8 ML from in situ infrared spectra), turnover rates are accurately described by Langmuirian models. Infrared bands indicate that adlayers nearly saturate and then gradually densify as pressure increases above 1 kPa CO, and rates become increasingly larger than those predicted from Langmuir treatments (15-fold at 25 kPa and 70-fold at 1 MPa CO). These strong rate enhancements are described here by adapting formalisms for reactions in nonideal and nearly incompressible media (liquids, ultrahigh-pressure gases) to handle the strong co-adsorbate interactions within the nearly incompressible CO* adlayer. These approaches show that rates are enhanced by densifying CO* adlayers because CO hydrogenation has a negative activation area (calculated by DFT), analogous to how increasing pressure enhances rates for liquid-phase reactions with negative activation volumes. Without these co-adsorbate effects and the negative activation area of CO activation, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis would not occur at practical rates. These findings and conceptual frameworks accurately treat dense surface adlayers and are relevant in the general treatment of surface catalysis as it is typically practiced at conditions leading to saturation coverages of reactants or products.

Dominant Role of Entropy in Stabilizing Sugar Isomerization Transition States within Hydrophobic Zeolite Pores

Lewis acid sites in zeolites catalyze aqueous-phase sugar isomerization at higher turnover rates when confined within hydrophobic rather than within hydrophilic micropores; however, relative contributions of competitive water adsorption at active sites and preferential stabilization of isomerization transition states have remained unclear. Here, we employ a suite of experimental and theoretical techniques to elucidate the effects of coadsorbed water on glucose isomerization reaction coordinate free energy landscapes. Transmission IR spectra provide evidence that water forms extended hydrogen-bonding networks within hydrophilic but not hydrophobic micropores of Beta zeolites. Aqueous-phase glucose isomerization turnover rates measured on Ti-Beta zeolites transition from first-order to zero-order dependence on glucose thermodynamic activity, as Lewis acidic Ti sites transition from water-covered to glucose-covered, consistent with intermediates identified from modulation excitation spectroscopy during in situ attenuated total reflectance IR experiments. First-order and zero-order isomerization rate constants are systematically higher (by 3-12×, 368-383 K) when Ti sites are confined within hydrophobic micropores. Apparent activation enthalpies and entropies reveal that glucose and water competitive adsorption at Ti sites depend weakly on confining environment polarity, while Gibbs free energies of hydride-shift isomerization transition states are lower when confined within hydrophobic micropores. DFT calculations suggest that interactions between intraporous water and isomerization transition states increase effective transition state sizes through second-shell solvation spheres, reducing primary solvation sphere flexibility. These findings clarify the effects of hydrophobic pockets on the stability of coadsorbed water and isomerization transition states and suggest design strategies that modify micropore polarity to influence turnover rates in liquid water.