Topological Transformation of Mg-Containing Layered Double Hydroxide Nanosheets for Efficient Photodriven CH4 Coupling

Direct conversion of methane (CH₄) to fuels and other high value-added chemicals is an attractive technology in the chemical industry; however, practical challenges to sustainable processes remain. Herein, we report the preparation of a heterostructured Co-doped MgO-based catalyst through topological transformation of a MgCo-layered double hydroxide (LDH) calcination from 200 to 1100 °C. Remarkably, the catalyst can activate CH₄ coupling to produce C₂H₆ with a selectivity of 41.60 % within 3 h under full-spectrum irradiation through calcination of LDH at 800 °C. Characterization studies and catalytic results suggest that the highly dispersed active sites and large interfaces amongst the Co-doped MgO-based catalysts enable surface activation of CH₄ to methyl (CH₃*), in turn promoting coupling of CH₃* to C₂H₆. This study introduces a promising pathway for photodriven CH₄ coupling to give high value-added chemicals by using layered double hydroxides as a precursor.     

The Catalytic Oxidative Coupling of Methane

One of the great challenges in the field of heterogeneous catalysis is the conversion of methane to more useful chemicals and fuels. A chemical of particular importance is ethene, which can be obtained by the oxidative coupling of methane. In this reaction CH₄ is first oxidatively converted into C₂H₆, and then into C₂H₄. The fundamental aspects of the problem involve both a heterogeneous component, which includes the activation of CH₄ on a metal oxide surface, and a homogeneous gas-phase component, which includes free-radical chemistry. Ethane is produced mainly by the coupling of the surface-generated CH radicals in the gas phase. The yield of C₂H₄ and C₂H₆ is limited by secondary reactions of CH radicals with the surface and by the further oxidation of C₂H₄, both on the catalyst surface and in the gas phase. Currently, the best catalysts provide 20% CH₄ conversion with 80% combined C₂H₄ and C₂H₆ selectivity in a single pass through the reactor. Less is known about the nature of the active centers than about the reaction mechanism; however, reactive oxygen ions are apparently required for the activation of CH₄ on certain catalysts. There is spectroscopic evidence for surface O^? or O ions. In addition to the oxidative coupling of CH₄, cross-coupling reactions, such as between methane and toluene to produce styrene, have been investigated. Many of the same catalysts are effective, and the cross-coupling reaction also appears to involve surface-generated radicals. Although a technological process has not been developed, extensive research has resulted in a reasonable understanding of the elementary reactions that occur during the oxidative coupling of methane.     

Sites for Methane Activation on Lithium‐Doped Magnesium Oxide Surfaces

Density functional calculations yield energy barriers for H abstraction by oxygen radical sites in Li‐doped MgO that are much smaller (12±6 kJ mol^?1) than the barriers inferred from different experimental studies (80–160 kJ mol^?1). This raises further doubts that the Li⁺O^.? site is the active site as postulated by Lunsford. From temperature‐programmed oxidative coupling reactions of methane (OCM), we conclude that the same sites are responsible for the activation of CH₄ on both Li‐doped MgO and pure MgO catalysts. For a MgO catalyst prepared by sol–gel synthesis, the activity proved to be very different in the initial phase of the OCM reaction and in the steady state. This was accompanied by substantial morphological changes and restructuring of the terminations as transmission electron microscopy revealed. Further calculations on cluster models showed that CH₄ binds heterolytically on Mg²⁺O^2? sites at steps and corners, and that the homolytic release of methyl radicals into the gas phase will happen only in the presence of O₂.     

Lithium Promotes Acetylide Formation on MgO During Methane Coupling Under Non-Oxidative Conditions

A prototypical material for the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) is Li/MgO, for which Li is known to be essential as a dopant to obtain high C₂ selectivities. Herein, Li/MgO is demonstrated to be an effective catalyst for non-oxidative coupling of methane (NOCM). Moreover, the presence of Li is shown to favor the formation of magnesium acetylide (MgC₂), while pure MgO promotes coke formation as evidenced by solid-state ¹³C NMR, thus indicating that Li promotes C−C bond formation. Metadynamic simulations of the carbon mobility in MgC₂ and Li₂C₂ at the density functional theory (DFT) level show that carbon easily diffuses as a C₂ unit at 1000 °C. These insights suggest that the enhanced C₂ selectivity for Li-doped MgO is related to the formation of Li and Mg acetylides.     

Photoinduced methanol formation from methane and no at 275 k on highly dispersed vanadium oxide supported on vycor glass and its reaction intermediate species

UV irradiation at 275 K of the highly dispersed V/Vycor oxide catalyst in the presence of NO leads to the formation of N₂ and O₂. The decomposition reaction of NO proceeds photocatafytically. In the presence of CH₄, UV-irradiation of the catalyst at 275 K leads to the formation of C₂H₆ and C₂H₄, but this reaction is found to accompany the reduction of the catalyst as well as the formation of CH₃ radicals. A dynamic photoluminescence study of the catalyst in the absence and presence of the reactants indicates that the charge transfer excited triplet state of the surface vanadyl-species (V=O) plays a significant role in these photoinduced reactions of NO and CH₄. On the other hand, UV-irradiation of the catalyst at 275 K in the presence of a mixture of NO and CH₄ leads to the formation of CH₃OH in addition to the above products. The higher the ratio of NO/CH₄ in the mixture is, the larger the yield of CH₃OH becomes and the smaller the yields of C₂H₆ and C₂H₄ become, the reaction proceeding catalytically. Thus, the present results not only imply that the highly dispersed supported vanadium oxide catalysts can be utilized as a potential photocatalyst for de-NOx-ing and/or methane activation at normal temperature but also suggest that the photo-formed oxygen species from NO molecules plays a significant role in the photoinduced CH₃OH formation from CH₄ and NO on V/Vycor oxide catalysts at 275 K.     

Influence of Support Type and Metal Loading in Methane Decomposition over Iron Catalyst for Hydrogen Production

Natural gas resources, stimulate the method of catalytic methane decomposition. Hydrogen is a superb energy carrier and integral component of the present energy systems, while carbon nanotubes exhibit remarkable chemical and physical properties. The reaction was run at 700 °C in a fixed bed reactor. Catalyst calcination and reduction were done at 500 °C. MgO, TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ supported catalysts were prepared using a co‐precipitation method. Catalysts of different iron loadings were characterized with BET, TGA, XRD, H₂‐TPR and TEM. The catalyst characterization revealed the formation of multi‐walled nanotubes. Alternatively, time on stream tests of supported catalyst at 700 °C revealed the relative profiles of methane conversions increased as the %Fe loading was increased. Higher %Fe loadings decreased surface area of the catalyst. Iron catalyst supported with Al₂O₃ exhibited somewhat higher catalytic activity compared with MgO and TiO₂ supported catalysts when above 35% Fe loading was used. CH₄ conversion of 69% was obtained utilizing 60% Fe/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Alternatively, Fe/MgO catalysts gave the highest initial conversions when iron loading below 30% was employed. Indeed, catalysts with 15% Fe/MgO gave 63% conversion and good stability for 1 h time on stream. Inappropriateness of Fe/TiO₂ catalysts in the catalytic methane decomposition was observed.     

Methane oxidative coupling over different alkalidoped catalysts: A comparison of ceramic membrane reactors and conventional fixed bed reactors

Methane oxidative coupling has been carried out over Li/MgO, Li/Sn/MgO, Li/Na/MgO, Li/La/MgO, Na/Sm₂O₃, NaCl/CsCl/MgO and Na/W/Mn/SiO₂ catalysts, using a fixed bed reactor and an inert ceramic membrane reactor in which the membrane acted as an oxygen distributor to the catalytic bed. In most cases, the ceramic membrane reactor provided a significantly higher selectivity than the fixed bed reactor, at the same conversion level.     

Organo‐Palladium(II)‐Verbindungen mit PdC4‐Koordination: Phenylethinyl‐ und Methylphenylethinylkomplexe

Tetrakis(p‐tolyl)oxalamidinato‐bis[acetylacetonatopalladium(II)] ([Pd₂(acac)₂(oxam)]) reacted with Li–C≡C–C₆H₅ in THF with formation of [Pd(C≡C–C₆H₅)₄Li₂(thf)₄] ( 1a ). Reaction of [Pd₂(acac)₂(oxam)] with a mixture of 6 equiv. Li–C≡C–C₆H₅ and 2 equiv. LiCH₃ resulted in the formation of [Pd(CH₃)(C≡C–C₆H₅)₃Li₂(thf)₄] ( 2 ), and the dimeric complex [Pd₂(CH₃)₄(C≡C–C₆H₅)₄Li₄(thf)₆] ( 3 ) was isolated upon reaction of [Pd₂(acac)₂(oxam)] with a mixture of 4 equiv. Li–C≡C–C₆H₅ and 4 equiv. LiCH₃. 1 – 3 are extremely reactive compounds, which were isolated as white needles in good yields (60–90%). They were fully characterized by IR, ¹H‐, ¹³C‐, ⁷Li‐NMR spectroscopy, and by X‐ray crystallography of single crystals. In these compounds Li ions are bonded to the two carbon atoms of the alkinyl ligand. 1a reacted with Pd(PPh₃)₄ in the presence of oxygen to form the already known complexes trans‐[Pd(C≡C–C₆H₅)₂(PPh₃)₂] and [Pd(η²‐O₂)(PPh₃)₂]. In addition, 1a is an active catalyst for the Heck coupling reaction, but less active in the catalytic Sonogashira reaction.     

Formation of propylene in the reaction of methane with acetylene on a NiOx/BN heterogeneous catalyst

Reaction of methane with acetylene in the presence of a heterogeneous NiO_x/BN catalyst in the temperature range 300–450C results in the formation of propylene (1% yield). Using¹³CH₄ it was found that propylene arises both as a product of acetylene conversion and as a hydromethylation product of C₂H₂ with methane. The ratio of heavy and light C₃H₆ in the product mixture was 14.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 11, pp. 2478–2481, November, 1990.     

Synthesis of substituted biaryls via Suzuki,Stille and Hiyama cross‐coupling and homo‐coupling reactions by CN‐dimeric and monomeric ortho‐palladated catalysts

The catalytic activity of dimeric [Pd{C₆H₂(CH₂CH₂NH₂)–(OMe)₂,2,3}(μ‐Br)]₂ and monomeric [Pd{C₆H₂(CH₂CH₂NH₂)–(OMe)₂,2,3}Br(PPh₃)] complexes as efficient, stable and air‐ and moisture‐tolerant catalysts was investigated in the Suzuki, Stille and Hiyama cross‐coupling and homo‐coupling reactions of various aryl halides. Substituted biaryls were produced in excellent yields in short reaction times using catalytic amounts of these complexes. The monomeric complex was demonstrated to be more active than the corresponding dimeric catalyst for the cross‐coupling reaction of unreactive aryl bromides and chlorides. The combination of homogeneous metal catalysts and microwave irradiation gave higher yields of products in shorter reaction times. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oxidative coupling of methane in porous Vycor membrane reactors

Porous Vycor membrane tubes were used in shell-and-tube type membrane reactors to study the effect on the oxidative coupling of methane of metering the oxygen into the catalyst bed. Experimental studies showed that under conditions of complete oxygen conversion, Vycor membrane reactors packed with Sm₂O₃ catalyst exhibited enhanced hydrocarbon (C₂) selectivity. C₂ yields were comparable to those of the conventional co-feed packed bed reactors operated under the same conditions. The higher C₂ selectivity in the membrane reactors indicated that, for methane coupling, regulating the supply of oxygen along the length of the packed bed may be beneficial to C₂ formation.     

Copper-Catalyzed Coupling Reaction of Secondary Alkyl 2-Pyridinesulfonates with Alkyl Lithium-Based Reagents

The Cu(OTf)₂-catalyzed alkyl–alkyl coupling reaction of a secondary substrate MeCH(OSO₂Py)CH₂CH₂C₆H₄(4-OMe) with a nBuLi-based reagent prepared by transmetalation with MgBr₂ ⋅ THF₃ in THF produced a coupling product in 74 % yield. The use of soluble MgBr₂ ⋅ THF₃ in THF was required for this reaction. This method was applied to sBuLi and Ph(CH₂)₄Li. In contrast, transmetalation of MeLi with soluble MgCl₂ ⋅ THF₂ in THF produced the Me reagent, which was reactive for the coupling reaction. The reaction proceeded with inversion of the stereogenic carbon. Furthermore, (S)-14-methyloctadecan-2-one, a sex pheromone produced by lichen moths, was synthesized.     

Synthesis and reactions of some sulfur ylide complexes of palladium

The iodo-bridged sulfur ylide complex [Pd(μ-I)((CH₂)₂(SO)(CH₃))]₂ (1) when treated with dithiolates, acetylacetone and various Lewis bases gave [Pd((CH₂)₂(SO)(CH₃))(S ∼ S)] (S ∼ S = S₂CN(C₂H₅)₂, S₂COC₂H₅ and S₂P(OC₂H₅)₂), [Pd((CH₂)₂(SO)(CH₃))(acac)] (acac = acetylacetonate) and [PdI((CH₂)₂(SO)(CH₃))(base)]a (base = PPh₃, (P(OMe)₃, P(OPh)₃ and C₅H₅N). In the presence of a phase transfer catalyst (PTC). The reactions rates and yields were greatly increased. Reaction of several related sulfur ylide complexes with I₂, HI or aqueous NaOH gave 1. The single crystal structure of [Pd((CH₂)₂(SO)(CH₃))₂] was determined (orthorhombic, Pbcn, a 13.379(2), b 8.081(1), c 9.048(2) Å, V 978.2 ų, Z = 4). The compound has a rather long PdCH₂ bond (2.096(1) Å, mean).     

Adsorption properties and surface chemistry of MgO

The adsorption properties of MgO, which is used as a sorbent and catalyst support, were studied using gas chromatography. The test absorbents used were n-alkanes (which show only nonspecific dispersion interactions when physisorbed on any adsorbent) and adsorbates whose molecules are capable of specific interactions with the surface reactive sites of MgO. Adsorption isotherms were measured for CHCl₃, CH₃NO₂, CH₃CN, (CH₃)₂CO, CH₃COOC₂H₅, and (C₂H₅)₂O on MgO at 50–100°C. Differential molar enthalpy changes (?ΔH), equal to molar heats of adsorption, were determined. For polar adsorbates, contributions from dispersive and specific interactions into ?ΔH were determined. The electron-acceptor and electron-donor abilities of the MgO surface were estimated.     

Reaction of Organyltrifluorosilanes with Dimethylsulfoxide and Domethylformamide and Its Spectroscopic Investigation

Reaction of organyltrifluorosilanes RSiF₃ (R = C₆H₅, 3-O₂NC₆H₄, and C₆H₅CH₂) with DMSO and DMF (B) results in formation of the complexes 2B·SiF₄ and R₂SiF₂. Besides, biphenyl, benzene, methyl(fluoromethyl)sulfoxide, and S,S'-dimethyldisulfide-S,S'-dioxide CH₃S(O)S(O)CH₃ were either isolated or identified by chromatomass-spectrometry. Speculative mechanism of the reaction proceeding is discussed. IR spectra of the reaction mixtures and those of 2B·SiF₄ adduct were studied in details; they indicate octahedron structure of the complex with cis arrangement of B ligands.     

Onium salts of sulfur-containing oxyanions resulting from reaction of sulfur(IV) oxide with aqueous solutions of 1,2-diamines and morpholine

Reaction products have been isolated from SO₂–L–H₂O–О2 systems (L = ethylenediamine, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine, piperazine, and morpholine) as onium salts [H₃NCH₂CH₂NH₃]SO₄, [(CH₃)₂NHCH₂CH₂NH(CH₃)₂]SO₄, [(CH₃)₂NHCH₂CH₂NH(CH₃)₂]S₂O₆ ? H₂O, [C₄H₈N₂H₄]SO₃ ? H₂O, [C₄H₈N₂H₄]S₂O₆, [C₄H₈N₂H₄]SO₄ ? H₂O, [O(C₂H₄)₂NH₂]₂SO₄ ? H₂O. The prepared compounds have been characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, IR and mass spectroscopy.     

Effect of quenching on the methane coupling reaction

The effect of reaction mixture quenching on C₂ product formation in the methane coupling reaction on La₂O₃/CaO is disclosed. For reaction with the mixture (vol. %): 54.5 CH₄, 9.1 O₂ and 36.4 N₂ at 973 K, quenching of products results in a two-fold decrease in C₂ product yield. The results give evidence that in methane oxidative coupling methyl radical formation can occur in the gas phase to an extent comparable with that on the catalyst surface. The effect described must be taken into account in the case of an industrial application of methane oxidative coupling, too, because quenching is a regular procedure in the high temperature oxidative processes.     

Intramolekulare C?H-Aktivierung bei der Reaktion von Bis(benzylcyclopentadienyl)zirconiumdichlorid mit Vinyllithium — Bildung eines Crotyl-zirconacyclus

Intramolecular C? H Activation at Reaction of Bis(benzylcyclopentadienyl)zirconium Dichloride with Vinyllithium — Formation of a Crotyl Zirconacyclus Bis(benzylcyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride, (C₆H₅CH₂? C₅H₄)₂ZrCl₂ ( V ), reacts with vinyl lithium with formation of the chiral compound (C₆H₅CH₂? C₅H₄)? ? CH₂CH=CHCH₃ ( IX ) as the product of vinyl group coupling and an orthometallation reaction. The reaction mechanism and the ¹³C n.m.r. spectrum are discussed.     

Non-Oxidative Aromatization of CH4-C3H8 La-Promoted Zn/HZSM-5 Catalysts

The non-oxidative aromatization of mixed CH4 with C3H8 over La-promoted Zn/HZSM-5 catalysts was studied in a fixed-bed reactor at 823 K with space velocity 600 h^-1 and CH4/C3H8 （mol ratio）=5：l. The propane conversion and the aromatic selectivities were up to 99% and 60% over the catalyst respectively, while methane conversion had an induction period with the highest conversion of 30%. The structure and surface acidity of the catalysts were characterized by XRD, NH3-TPD and TG-DTA. The influences of reaction and regenerative conditions on the activity and selectivity were also investigated.     

The Catalytic Dehydrogenation of c2h6 to c2h4 under non-Oxidative Conditions over the 6cr/g-al2o3Catalyst

In the present paper, the catalytic dehydrogenation of C₂H₆ to C₂H₄ under non-oxidative conditions was investigated in a fixed-bed micro-reactor under ambient pressure at 823 - 923 K. The 6Cr/g-Al₂O₃ catalyst was found to be the best catalyst among the g-Al₂O₃, SiO₂, MCM41, MgO and Si-2 supported chromium oxide catalysts. The features of the 6Cr/g-Al₂O₃ catalyst for the reaction could be listed as follows: (1) At 823 - 923 K, the C₂H₄ selectivity of 92.5-78.6% at a C₂H₆ conversion of 9.5-29.8% could be obtained. (2) The catalyst had the good regeneration performance, i.e., could be regenerated by air repeatedly. (3) The main products were C₂H₄, CH₄, H₂ and coke. No carbon oxides were identified.