Quantum chemical calculation of the catalytic reaction of ethane dehydrogenation on gallium oxide-hydroxide binuclear clusters in oxidized GaO/ZSM-5 zeolite

The catalytic activity of oxidized GaO/HZSM-5 in the reaction of alkane dehydrogenation can be due to hydrogenated gallium oxide clusters stabilized in the cationic positions of the zeolite. The binuclear gallium oxide clusters [Ga₂O₂]²⁺ in oxidized gallium-substituted high-silica zeolite HZSM-5, which are isomeric to two gallyl ions [GaO]⁺ stabilized on two spatially separated lattice aluminum ions, were considered using the DFT method within the framework of a cluster approach. It was found that, even in the case of a relatively large distance between these aluminum ions, gallium oxide particles in oxidized GaO/HZSM-5 can occur as charged planar [Ga₂O₂]²⁺ four-membered rings. These cluster particles exhibited a high affinity to hydrogen, and they were readily hydrogenated with the retention of their structural integrity. It was demonstrated that this partially hydrogenated cluster could be responsible for the catalytic process of ethane dehydrogenation. In the first step, ethane dissociatively added to the [Ga₂O₂H₂]²⁺ cluster. Then, the ethylene molecule was eliminated from the resulting intermediate to leave the [Ga₂O₂H₄]²⁺ cluster. The cycle was closed by the elimination of a hydrogen molecule with the formation of the initial structure of [Ga₂O₂H₂]²⁺.     

Properties of surface compounds in methanol conversion on copper-containing catalysts based on CeO2 according to in situ IR-spectroscopic data

Formate and carbonate complexes and bridging and linear methoxy groups were detected on the surfaces of CeO₂ and 5.0% Cu/CeO₂ under the reaction conditions of methanol conversion using IR spectroscopy. The reaction products were H₂, methyl formate, CO, CO₂, and H₂O. The bridging and linear methoxy groups were the sources of formation of bi- and monodentate formate complexes, respectively. Methyl formate was formed as a result of the interaction of the linear methoxy group and the formate complex. The study demonstrated that the recombination of hydrogen atoms on copper clusters and the decomposition of methyl formate were the main reactions of hydrogen formation. Formate and carbonate complexes were the source of CO₂ formation in the gas phase, and the decomposition of methyl formate was the source of CO. It was found that the addition of water vapor to the reaction flow considerably decreased the rate of CO formation at a constant yield of hydrogen. The effects of water vapor and oxygen on the course of surface reactions and the formation of products are discussed. To explain the mechanism of methanol conversion, a scheme of surface reactions is proposed.     

Formation of mono- and binuclear chelates of alkyl-substituted biladiene-a,c with d-metal acetates in pyridine

The complex formation reactions of several d-metal acetates with decamethyl-substituted biladiene-a,c (H₂L) in pyridine (Py) have been studied by electronic spectroscopy. The coordination of H₂L by zinc(II) and copper(II) affords mononuclear complexes [ML], and the coordination by cadmium(II) and mercury(II) produces binuclear heteroligand complexes [M₂L(AcO)₂], whereas the coordination by cobalt(II) gives binuclear biligand complexes [M₂L₂]. In a Py solution in the presence of a copper acetate excess, the ligand in the [CuL] complex is oxidized at the methylene spacer. The thermodynamic formation constants of the mono- and binuclear chelates have been determined from spectral data. The peculiarities of complex formation in pyridine and in dimethylformamide (DMF) are analyzed in comparison.     

Copper Crystallization from Aqueous Solution: Initiation and Evolution of the Polynuclear Clusters

The initial steps of copper electrocrystallization process from aqueous solutions have been studied at DFT level of theory. It has been shown that Cu(H₂O) unit is the final product of Cu²⁺-ions electroreduction. From this particle clusters Cu_n·aq are formed and grow. Aggregation of copper atoms to the Cu_n·aq clusters consists of two steps. The first step includes condensation of Cu(H₂O) units to hydrated clusters Cu_n(H₂O)_n (n = 2–6). At the second step bonding of Cu(H₂O) particles is accompanied by dehydration of clusters yielding Cu_n(H₂O)_m structures (n > m). Cluster Cu₇·aq has been singled out as key structure based on calculated values of energies and Cu–Cu bond distances of Cu_n·aq clusters. This cluster is of D_5h symmetry which is typical for copper microcrystals formed from aqueous solutions in electrocrystallization processes on foreign surface. This key particle could be considered as a critical nucleus. Number of copper atoms therein matches average dimension of critical nucleus.     

Modeling the local structure and energetics of protozeolitic nanoclusters in hydrothermally stable aluminosilicate mesostructures

The density functional theory (DFT) method is used to investigate the structure and bonding of silica and aluminosilicate nanoclusters containing five- and six-membered oxygen rings. The clusters, which are derived from the BEA zeolite structure, are considered as models of the protozeolitic clusters that are incorporated into the pore walls of steam stable aluminosilicate mesostructures assembled from zeolite seeds. Two locally different Br?nsted acid sites in the aluminosilicate structure are identified for the adsorption of a water molecule. The sterically more open acid site is favored for water binding. The stability of the aluminosilicate structure in the presence of H2O molecule is studied by breaking an Al-O bond and inserting a water molecule into the five-membered ring structure. We find that an excitation energy at least 18 times larger than the room-temperature thermal energy is needed to break the stable five-membered ring structure, implying a high hydrothermal stability and acidity for this aluminosilicate structure.     

Dynamics and structural changes of small water clusters on ionization

Despite utmost importance in understanding water ionization process, reliable theoretical results of structural changes and molecular dynamics (MD) of water clusters on ionization have hardly been reported yet. Here, we investigate the water cations [(H₂O)_{n = 2–6}⁺] with density functional theory (DFT), Möller–Plesset second‐order perturbation theory (MP2), and coupled cluster theory with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)]. The complete basis set limits of interaction energies at the CCSD(T) level are reported, and the geometrical structures, electronic properties, and infrared spectra are investigated. The characteristics of structures and spectra of the water cluster cations reflect the formation of the hydronium cation moiety (H₃O⁺) and the hydroxyl radical. Although most density functionals fail to predict reasonable energetics of the water cations, some functionals are found to be reliable, in reasonable agreement with high‐level ab initio results. To understand the ionization process of water clusters, DFT‐ and MP2‐based Born‐Oppenheimer MD (BOMD) simulations are performed on ionization. On ionization, the water clusters tend to have an Eigen‐like form with the hydronium cation instead of a Zundel‐like form, based on reliable BOMD simulations. For the vertically ionized water hexamer, the relatively stable (H₂O)₅⁺ (5sL4A) cluster tends to form with a detached water molecule (H₂O). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spectroscopic identification of adsorption properties of Zn2+ ions at cationic positions of high-silica zeolites with distant placing of aluminium ions

For Zn²⁺ cations in ZnZSM-5 zeolite unusual type of cationic positions, formed by two distantly placed framework aluminium atoms, is considered. Some extent of structural destabilization of cations in these cationic positions in comparison with traditional localization should result in promoted Lewis activity and adsorption activity of these sites. The last ones are manifested in the significantly increased IR low frequency shifts for adsorbed molecules and in their ability for heterolytic dissociation at elevating temperature. DFT cluster quantum chemical modeling of light alkane adsorption on Zn²⁺ in ZnZSM-5 zeolites confirms these conjectures in full agreement with recent experiments. Similar to the previously considered dihydrogen and methane molecule adsorption, we present here the calculations of ethane molecular and dissociative adsorption on these sites. It is shown that the unusually large ethane IR frequency shift recently observed in ZnZSM-5 zeolite can result from adsorptive interaction of C₂H₆ with Zn²⁺ stabilized in a cationic position with distantly placed aluminium ions. The dissociative adsorption of ethane molecules with the formation of bridged hydroxyl group and Zn–C₂H₅ structure is considered and an activation energy of ethylene formation from the alkyl fragment is evaluated.     

Spectroscopic studies,Density Functional Theory calculations,and non-linear optical properties of binuclear Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes of OONN Schiff base ligand

The binuclear complexes of Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) with 2-[3-(benzylideneamino)-2-(benzylidenehydrazono)-4-oxothiazolidin-5-yl] acetic acid ligand (HL) were prepared and their stoichiometry was determined by elemental analysis. The stereochemistry of the studied binuclear metal complexes was confirmed by analyzing their infrared spectra, ¹H NMR, and magnetic moment. Thermal decomposition studies of the binuclear complexes have been performed to demonstrate the status of water molecules present in these binuclear complexes and their general decomposition pattern. The equilibrium geometry of the ligand and its studied complexes were calculated using density function theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/GENECP level of the theory. The results show that the ligand and its complexes are nonplanar structures as indicated from the values of the dihedral angles. Extent of distortion from regular geometry has been performed and discussed in terms of the values of the angles between the central metals and the coordinated sites. The E_HOMO and E_LUMO energies of the studied ligand and its complexes are used to calculate the global properties. The nonlinear optical parameters (NLO), anisotropy of the polarizibility (Δα), and the mean first-order hyperpolarizability (<β>) were calculated. The (<β>) values were compared with Urea as a reference molecule and the results of (<β>) values showed that the ligand and the studied complexes have good NLO behaviors.     

不同类型含铁分子筛上N2O催化分解反应

采用固态离子交换法制备了一系列Fe/Al摩尔比为0.33的Fe/分子筛(ZSM-35,ZSM-5,beta和mordenite (丝光沸石))样品,并利用紫外-可见漫反射光谱、原位红外光谱和可见拉曼光谱以及瞬态应答实验考察了分子筛种类对N₂O分解反应性能的影响.研究表明,经高温处理(HT)后分子筛的催化活性顺序为 Fe/ZSM-35 > Fe/beta > Fe/ZSM-5 > Fe/mordenite,与骨架外铝稳定的双核铁物种含量一致.这说明双核铁物种是高温处理后Fe/分子筛样品中N₂O分解的活性位,而它的形成与分子筛种类密切相关.Fe/ZSM-35分子筛十元环孔道中相邻两个α位和八元环孔道中相邻两个β位都能稳定两个Fe(II)离子而形成能高效分解N₂O的双核铁活性中心.Fe/beta和Fe/ZSM-5分子筛中只有落在相邻两个β位上的两个Fe(II)离子才能形成参与N₂O分解的高活性的双铁活性中心.Fe/mordenite-HT分子筛上的铁物种绝大部分以孤立Fe离子的形式存在,因此其催化N₂O分解反应活性很低.     

Localization of the copper-containing component in the pore volume of zeolite ZSM-5

The distribution of the copper-containing component in the pore volume of zeolite ZSM-5 has been investigated by H₂ and N₂ adsorption at 77 K and IR spectroscopy. Samples were synthesized by ion exchange and incipient wetness impregnation. Copper-containing clusters are mostly located on the surface of the mesopores formed by packed zeolite nanocrystallites. This causes partial blocking of the volume of microporous channels for N₂ molecules, but these channels remain accessible for H₂ molecules. It has been deduced that no considerable amount of copper located in the structural channels of the zeolite. According to IR spectroscopic data, the sorption of copper ions in the Cu/ZSM-5 catalysts takes place on extraframe-work aluminum, which forms Al-OH-Al bridges and terminal Al-OH groups, and on terminal Si-OH groups located on the zeolite crystal surface.     

Preparation of highly dispersed copper oxide by thermal destruction of binuclear CuII monofluoroacetate in zeolite Y cavities

Thermal destruction of the binuclear monofluoroacetate complex Cu₂(CH₂FCOO)₄ deposited on zeolite Y was studied by the TG-DTA and ESR methods. Large particles of copper oxide are not formed and fine dispersion of CuO in the matrix is observed due to low temperatures of the destruction of the supported complex (240–250°C) and restriction of the process mainly to large cavities of the zeolite. Published inIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1371–1374, August, 2000.     

Silver and Copper Nitride Cooperate for CO Electroreduction to Propanol

The need of carbon sources for the chemical industry, alternative to fossil sources, has pointed to CO₂ as a possible feedstock. While CO₂ electroreduction (CO₂R) allows production of interesting organic compounds, it suffers from large carbon losses, mainly due to carbonate formation. This is why, quite recently, tandem CO₂R, a two-step process, with first CO₂R to CO using a solid oxide electrolysis cell followed by CO electroreduction (COR), has been considered, since no carbon is lost as carbonate in either step. Here we report a novel copper-based catalyst, silver-doped copper nitride, with record selectivity for formation of propanol (Faradaic efficiency: 45 %), an industrially relevant compound, from CO electroreduction in gas-fed flow cells. Selective propanol formation occurs at metallic copper atoms derived from copper nitride and is promoted by silver doping as shown experimentally and computationally. In addition, the selectivity for C₂₊ liquid products (Faradaic efficiency: 80 %) is among the highest reported so far. These findings open new perspectives regarding the design of catalysts for production of C₃ compounds from CO₂.     

Importance of Methane Chemical Potential for Its Conversion to Methanol on Cu-Exchanged Mordenite

Copper-oxo clusters exchanged in zeolite mordenite are active in the stoichiometric conversion of methane to methanol at low temperatures. Here, we show an unprecedented methanol yield per Cu of 0.6, with a 90–95 % selectivity, on a MOR solely containing [Cu₃(μ-O)₃]²⁺ active sites. DFT calculations, spectroscopic characterization and kinetic analysis show that increasing the chemical potential of methane enables the utilization of two μ-oxo bridge oxygen out of the three available in the tricopper-oxo cluster structure. Methanol and methoxy groups are stabilized in parallel, leading to methanol desorption in the presence of water.     

Binuclear transition-metal trimethylacetato complexes containing coordinated 3,5-dimethylpyrazole as structural analogues of the active site of natural metalloenzymes

Synthetic approaches are discussed to prepare binuclear trimethylacetato complexes of zinc, copper, cobalt, and nickel containing an M₂(μ-OOCR)₂L₄ binuclear fragment, which is found in the active site of natural metalloenzymes.     

Calculation of the exchange coupling constants of copper binuclear systems based on spin-flip constricted variational density functional theory

We have recently developed a methodology for the calculation of exchange coupling constants J in weakly interacting polynuclear metal clusters. The method is based on unrestricted and restricted second order spin-flip constricted variational density functional theory (SF-CV(2)-DFT) and is here applied to eight binuclear copper systems. Comparison of the SF-CV(2)-DFT results with experiment and with results obtained from other DFT and wave function based methods has been made. Restricted SF-CV(2)-DFT with the BH&HLYP functional yields consistently J values in excellent agreement with experiment. The results acquired from this scheme are comparable in quality to those obtained by accurate multi-reference wave function methodologies such as difference dedicated configuration interaction and the complete active space with second-order perturbation theory.     

Probing the Properties of Polynuclear Superhalogens without Halogen Ligand via ab Initio Calculations: A Case Study on Double‐Bridged [Mg2(CN)5]−1 Anions

An ab initio study of the superhalogen properties of eighteen binuclear double‐bridged [Mg₂(CN)₅]^?1 clusters is reported herein by using various theoretical methods. High‐level CCSD(T) results indicate that all the clusters possess strong superhalogen properties owing to their high vertical electron detachment energies (VDEs), which exceed 6.8 eV (highest: 8.15 eV). The outer valence Green's function method provides inaccurate relative VDE values; hence, this method is not suitable for this kind of polynuclear superhalogens. Both the HF and MP2 results are generally consistent with the CCSD(T) level regarding the relative VDE values and—especially interesting—the average values of the HF and MP2 VDEs are extremely close to the CCSD(T) results. The distributions of the extra electrons of the anions are mainly aggregated into the terminal CN units. These distributions are apparently different from those of previously reported triple‐bridged isomers and may be the reason for the decreased VDE values of the clusters. In addition, comparisons of the VDEs of binuclear and mononuclear superhalogens as well as studies of the thermodynamic stabilities with respect to the detachment of various CN^?1 ligands are also performed. These results confirm that polynuclear structures with pseudohalogen ligands can be considered as probable new superhalogens with enhanced properties.     

On the Origin of the Visible‐Light Activity of Titanium Dioxide Doped with Carbonate Species

Plane‐wave‐based pseudopotential density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to elucidate the origin of the high photocatalytic efficiency of carbonate‐doped TiO₂. Two geometrically possible doping positions are considered, including interstitial and substitutional carbon atoms on Ti sites. From the optical absorption properties calculations, we believe that the formation of carbonates after doping with interstitial carbon atoms is crucial, whereas the contribution from the cationic doping on Ti sites is negligible. The carbonate species doped TiO₂ exhibits excellent absorption in the visible‐light region of 400–800 nm, in good agreement with experimental observations. Electronic structure analysis shows that the carbonate species introduce an impurity state from Ti 3d below the conduction band. Excitations from the impurity state to the conduction band may be responsible for the high visible‐light activity of the carbon doped TiO₂ materials.     

Simultaneous determination of cobalt,copper, iron and vanadium in crude petroleum oils by HPLC

Summary A method has been developed for the simultaneous formation and solvent extraction of cobalt (II), copper (II), iron (II) and vanadium (IV) complexes of bis (acetylpivalylmethane)ethylenediamine (H₂APM₂en) in methyl isobutyl ketone. The complexes are eluted from a reversed phase HPLC column with a mixture of methanol:water:acetonitrile and detection was at 260 nm. The method has been applied to the simultaneous determination of cobalt, copper, iron and vanadium in crude petroleum oils at the ng level.     

ESR and TPD Study of the Interaction of Nitromethane and Ammonia with HZSM-5 and CuZSM-5 Zeolites

The properties of complexes formed on HZSM-5 and CuZSM-5 zeolites in the course of ammonia and nitromethane adsorption are studied. Ammonia adsorbs on CuZSM-5 and forms two species, which decompose at different temperatures T _dec. One is due to the formation of the Cu²⁺(NH₃)₄ complex (T _dec = 450 K), and the other is assigned to ammonia adsorbed on copper(II) compounds, Cu²⁺O^– and Cu²⁺–O^2––Cu²⁺, or CuO clusters (T _dec = 650–750 K). Ammonia adsorption on Cu⁺ and Cu⁰ is negligible compared with that on the Brönsted acid sites and copper(II). Nitromethane adsorbed on HZSM-5 and CuZSM-5 at 400–500 K transforms into a series of products including ammonia. Ammonia also forms complexes with the Brönsted acid sites and copper(II) similar to those formed in the course of adsorption from the gas phase, but the Cu²⁺(NH₃)₄ complexes on CuZSM-5 are not observed. Possible structures of ammonia and nitromethane complexes on Brönsted acid sites and the Cu²⁺ cations in zeolite channels are discussed. The role of these complexes in selective NO _x reduction by hydrocarbons over the zeolites is considered in connection with their thermal stability.