Sustainable Production of Chemicals via Hydrotreating of CO2 and Biomass Derived Molecules Using Heterogeneous Noble Metal Oxide Catalysts

The noble metals are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis and automobile industry. The limited natural sources and high cost of noble metals dictates improving the efficiency of modern industry. This review considers the applications of noble metal oxide as potential solutions to the sustainability issues, including biomass conversion, CO₂ capture and conversion, green fuel production, etc. Noble metal oxides with their different compositions (monometallic and bimetallic) and structures exhibit a wide range of properties in heterogeneous catalysis. Although platinum metals in an oxidized form may not be the most common choice in hydroprocesses; recently, there have been studies indicating that they were highly active and selective catalysts in hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis. This review outlines the most established noble metal oxide catalysts used in hydrogenation catalysis and shed the light on the relation of noble metal oxide species to catalyst selectivity based on state-of-the-art techniques. Finally, the perspectives on the application of noble metal oxide catalysts to produce value-added chemicals are discussed.     

Hydrogenation catalysts based on metal nanoparticles stabilized by organic ligands

The review analyses principal approaches to the synthesis of hydrogenation catalysts based on noble metal nanoparticles stabilized by different organic ligands, such as alcohols, amines, phosphines, ionic liquids, linear polymers, and dendrimers. A possibility of application of new materials, the so-called “breathing” metal-organic frameworks, as matrices for the development of heterogeneous catalysts was considered.     

A Reusable Co Catalyst for the Selective Hydrogenation of Functionalized Nitroarenes and the Direct Synthesis of Imines and Benzimidazoles from Nitroarenes and Aldehydes

The use of abundantly available transition metals in reactions that have been preferentially mediated by rare noble metals, for example, hydrogenations, is a desirable aim in catalysis and an attractive strategy for element conservation. The observation of novel selectivity patterns with such inexpensive metal catalysts is especially appealing. Herein, we report a novel, robust, and reusable cobalt catalyst that permits the selective hydrogenation of nitroarenes in the presence of highly hydrogenation‐sensitive functional groups, as well as the direct synthesis of imines from nitroarenes and aldehydes or ketones in the presence of such substituents. Furthermore, we introduce the first base‐metal‐mediated direct synthesis of benzimidazoles from nitroarenes and aldehydes. Functional groups that are easy to hydrogenate are again well tolerated.     

Recent Advances on Confining Noble Metal Nanoparticles Inside Metal-Organic Frameworks for Hydrogenation Reactions

Hydrogenation reaction is one of the pillars of the chemical industry for the synthesis of drugs and fine chemicals. To achieve high catalytic performance, it is still highly desirable for constructing novel supported metal catalysts. Different from conventional supports like metal oxides, zeolites and carbon materials, metal-organic frameworks(MOFs) as the emerging porous materials have Hexhibited great potential to host metal nanoparticles (NPs) for achieving hydrogenation reactions with high catalytic efficiency, due to their unique porous structures. Recently, many progresses have been made, and thus, it is necessary to summarize the recent progresses on confining metal NPs inside MOFs for hydrogenation reactions. In this review, we first introduced the general synthesis methods for confining noble metal NPs inside MOFs. Then, the applications of noble metal NPs/MOFs catalysts in hydrogenation reactions were summarized, and the synergistic catalytic performances among noble metal NPs, metal nodes, functional groups, and pore channels in MOFs were illustrated. Subsequently, the hydrogen spillover effect involved in the hydrogenation reactions was discussed. Finally, we provide an outlook on the future research directions and challenges of confining noble metal NPs inside MOFs for hydrogenation reactions.     

Metal Nodes of Metal-Organic Frameworks can Activate Molecular Hydrogen

Hydrogenation of multiple bonds are among the most general and important organic reactions. Typical heterogeneous catalysts are based on transition metal nanoparticles, including noble metals. Data are presented here showing that metal nodes of MIL-101(Cr) and UiO-66 in the absence of occluded metal nanoparticles can promote hydrogenation of polarized X=Y double bonds of nitro and carbonyl groups. The catalytic activity is a function of the composition of the metal node and the organic linker. It is proposed that the reaction mechanism is based on the operation of frustrated Lewis acid/base pairs.     

Highly Active and Selective Manganese C=O Bond Hydrogenation Catalysts: The Importance of the Multidentate Ligand,the Ancillary Ligands,and the Oxidation State

The replacement of expensive noble metals by earth‐abundant transition metals is a central topic in catalysis. Herein, we introduce a highly active and selective homogeneous manganese‐based C=O bond hydrogenation catalyst. Our catalyst has a broad substrate scope, it is able to hydrogenate aryl–alkyl, diaryl, dialkyl, and cycloalkyl ketones as well as aldehydes. A very good functional group tolerance including the quantitative and selective hydrogenation of a ketone in the presence of a non‐shielded olefin is observed. In Mn hydrogenation catalysis, the combination of the multidentate ligand, the oxidation state of the metal, and the choice of the right ancillary ligand is crucial for high activity. This observation emphasizes an advantage and the importance of homogeneous catalysts in 3d‐metal catalysis. For coordination compounds, fine‐tuning of a complex coordination environment is easily accomplished in comparison to enzyme and/or heterogeneous catalysts.     

How Absorbed Hydrogen Affects the Catalytic Activity of Transition Metals

Heterogeneous catalysis is commonly governed by surface active sites. Yet, areas just below the surface can also influence catalytic activity, for instance, when fragmentation products of catalytic feeds penetrate into catalysts. In particular, H absorbed below the surface is required for certain hydrogenation reactions on metals. Herein, we show that a sufficient concentration of subsurface hydrogen, H^sub, may either significantly increase or decrease the bond energy and the reactivity of the adsorbed hydrogen, H^ad, depending on the metal. We predict a representative reaction, ethyl hydrogenation, to speed up on Pd and Pt, but to slow down on Ni and Rh in the presence of H^sub, especially on metal nanoparticles. The identified effects of subsurface H on surface reactivity are indispensable for an atomistic understanding of hydrogenation processes on transition metals and interactions of hydrogen with metals in general.     

Pincer‐Type Complexes for Catalytic (De)Hydrogenation and Transfer (De)Hydrogenation Reactions: Recent Progress

Pincer complexes are becoming increasingly important for organometallic chemistry and organic synthesis. Since numerous applications for such catalysts have been developed in recent decades, this Minireview covers progress in their use as catalysts for (de)hydrogenation and transfer (de)hydrogenation reactions during the last four years. Aside from noble‐metal‐based pincer complexes, the corresponding base metal complexes are also highlighted and their applications summarized.     

Transforming nonselective into chemoselective metal catalysts for the hydrogenation of substituted nitroaromatics

It is generally accepted that good hydrogenation noble and nonnoble metal catalysts such as Pt, Ru, or Ni are not chemoselective for hydrogenation of nitro groups in substituted aromatic molecules. We have found that it is possible to transform nonchemoselective into highly chemoselective metal catalysts by controlling the coordination of metal surface atoms while introducing a cooperative effect between the metal and a properly selected support. Thus, highly chemoselective and general hydrogenation Pt, Ru, and Ni catalysts can be prepared by generating nanosized crystals of the metals on the surface of a TiO 2 support and decorating the exposed (111) and (100) crystal faces by means of a simple catalyst activation procedure. By doing this, it has been possible to change the relative rate for hydrogenating competitive groups present in the molecule by almost 2 orders of magnitude, increasing the chemoselectivity from less than 1% to more than 95%.     

Rational Design of Pt−Pd−Ni Trimetallic Nanocatalysts for Room-Temperature Benzaldehyde and Styrene Hydrogenation

Nanostructures of the multimetallic catalysts offer great scope for fine tuning of heterogeneous catalysis, but clear understanding of the surface chemistry and structures is important to enhance their selectivity and efficiency. Focussing on a typical Pt−Pd−Ni trimetallic system, we comparatively examined the Ni/C, Pt/Ni/C, Pd/Ni/C and Pt−Pd/Ni/C catalysts synthesized by impregnation and galvanic replacement reaction. To clarify surface chemical/structural effect, the Pt−Pd/Ni/C catalyst was thermally treated at X=200, 400 or 600 °C in a H₂ reducing atmosphere, respectively termed as Pt−Pd/Ni/C−X. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized complementarily by XRD, XPS, TEM, HRTEM, HS-LEIS and STEM-EDS elemental mapping and line-scanning. All the catalysts were comparatively evaluated for benzaldehyde and styrene hydrogenation. It is shown that the “PtPd alloy nanoclusters on Ni nanoparticles” (PtPd/Ni) and the synergistic effect of the trimetallic Pt−Pd−Ni, lead to much improved catalytic performance, compared with the mono- or bi- metallic counterparts. However, with the increase of the treatment temperature of the Pt−Pd/Ni/C, the catalytic performance was gradually degraded, which was likely due to that the favourable nanostructure of fine “PtPd/Ni” was gradually transformed to relatively large “PtPdNi alloy on Ni” (PtPdNi/Ni) particles, thus decreasing the number of noble metal (Pt and Pd) active sites on the surface of the catalyst. The optimum trimetallic structure is thus the as synthesised Pt−Pd/Ni/C. This work provides a novel strategy for the design and development of highly efficient and low-cost multimetallic catalysts, e. g. for hydrogenation reactions.     

Acyl Fluorides in Late‐Transition‐Metal Catalysis

In this Review, we summarize the current state of the art in late‐transition‐metal‐catalyzed reactions of acyl fluorides, covering both their synthesis and further transformations. In organic reactions, the relationship between stability and reactivity of the starting substrates is usually characterized by a trade‐off. Yet, acyl fluorides display a very good balance between these properties, which is mostly due to their moderate electrophilicity. Thus, acyl fluorides (RCOF) can be used as versatile building blocks in transition‐metal‐catalyzed reactions, for example, as an “RCO” source in acyl coupling reactions, as an “R” source in decarbonylative coupling reactions, and as an “F” source in fluorination reactions. Starting from the cleavage of the acyl C?F bond in acyl fluorides, various transformations are accessible, including C?C, C?H, C?B, and C?F bond‐forming reactions that are catalyzed by transition‐metal catalysts that contain the Group 9–11 metals Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, or Cu.     

Alkene Hydrogenations by Soluble Iron Nanocluster Catalysts

The replacement of noble metal technologies and the realization of new reactivities with earth‐abundant metals is at the heart of sustainable synthesis. Alkene hydrogenations have so far been most effectively performed by noble metal catalysts. This study reports an iron‐catalyzed hydrogenation protocol for tri‐ and tetra‐substituted alkenes of unprecedented activity and scope under mild conditions (1–4 bar H₂, 20 °C). Instructive snapshots at the interface of homogeneous and heterogeneous iron catalysis were recorded by the isolation of novel Fe nanocluster architectures that act as catalyst reservoirs and soluble seeds of particle growth.     

炔醇选择加氢催化剂研究进展

炔醇选择加氢制备相应的烯醇在医药、农药、食品添加剂、香精、香料和聚合物单体等众多高端精细化学品合成中是一个非常重要的化工过程.通过一系列复杂的平行和连续的反应,炔醇可加氢生产若干个关键中间体.提高对烯醇的选择性和保持催化剂的效率是工业生产的关键,也是一个巨大的挑战.迄今为止,各种有效的贵金属和非贵金属催化剂得到了广泛的发展,尤其是钯基和镍基多相催化剂取得了显著进展.从经典的Lindlar催化剂和Raney-Ni催化剂到生物基金属催化新材料,本文系统综述了近几十年炔醇选择加氢催化剂的设计,从催化剂本身的金属活性中心、助剂(第二金属、有机配体和稳定剂)的作用、载体的性质(孔结构、酸碱性、金属与载体强相互作用)以及反应条件等因素对催化活性、目标产物的选择性和稳定性的影响进行了系统的综述.借助先进的表征技术、理论计算和实验研究,本文还阐述了炔醇选择加氢反应的机理.研究发现:(1)在所有贵金属催化剂中,Pd基催化剂对炔醇半加氢制烯醇的效率最高,且选择性最好.稳定剂和抑制剂的加入可以提高中间体的选择性,但在一定程度上降低了催化活性.此外,Zn,In和Cu等第二金属的掺杂可以调节金属Pd的几何效应和电子结构,从而调节底物和中间产物的吸附,并抑制过度加氢.与传统的Lindlar型催化剂相比,这种Pd基合金或金属间化合物可广泛应用于炔醇的选择性加氢反应,显著提高烯醇的选择性,且不需要引入有毒添加剂.(2)Ni基材料作为可替代贵金属催化剂,可分别实现炔醇的高选择性加氢制备烯醇或烷醇.然而,与贵金属催化剂相比,其反应条件相对苛刻.炔醇加氢产物分布很大程度上取决于助剂的引入和载体的酸性.此外,碳物种易沉积在Ni表面造成活性位点被覆盖,且在水热环境下Ni颗粒因团聚而失活,因此,用于炔醇选择加氢反应的镍基催化剂稳定性仍有待提高.尽管炔醇选择加氢反应在学术界和工业界都有广泛研究,但对于这些催化体系,特别是催化剂的结构性能关系和反应机理,仍有待进一步明确.(1)原位表征技术和理论计算的发展,将有助于人们理解炔醇选择性加氢的催化过程,并指导研究者根据炔醇加氢的特点设计出具有良好选择性的高效催化剂.(2)烯醇类产品一般应用于医药中间体和高分子单体,对产品纯度要求较高.因此,在不引入有毒添加剂的情况下,设计高效、高选择性催化剂至关重要.(3)水相或醇相中炔醇选择加氢反应对催化剂的水热稳定性有很高的要求.通过锚定和包覆来增强金属与载体的相互作用,抑制金属纳米粒子的聚集和流失是一种有效的手段.此外,在炔醇选择加氢反应中引入耐水载体可以有效提高催化剂的稳定性.(4)短碳链炔醇催化选择加氢反应一直是研究的热点.然而,关于长碳链炔醇的选择加氢反应过程,国内外报道相对较少.基于长碳链炔醇底物分子的空间位阻效应,有必要设计具有特殊孔道结构的选择加氢催化剂.(5)目前,绝大多数炔醇选择加氢过程还处于间歇性操作.随着市场对烯醇的需求不断增加,为了获得高品质的产品,连续化操作将是一个必然趋势.     

Recent Progress of Single-Atom Alloys in Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactions

In decades, heterogeneous catalysis has played a more significant role in social progress. However, the exorbitant price and low reserves vastly limit the application of noble metal catalysts, which are extensively used in heterogeneous catalysis. The single-atom-alloy catalysts (SAAs) have been regarded as a crucial way to improve the dispersion ratio of noble metal while maintaining great heterogeneous catalytic performance by dispersing noble metal single atoms on the surface of another metal. Besides the benefit from the metal bonds between noble metals and support metals, SAAs is also a unique method to construct metallic metal single atoms and obtain its characteristic catalytic performance, which is not possessed by other single atoms catalysts with positive electricity metal atoms. Most recently, SAAs have been demonstrated to catalyze a lot of significant heterogeneous reactions. This review will introduce the synthesis methods of SAAs and then summarize their applications in heterogeneous catalysis.     

Manganese‐Catalyzed Multicomponent Synthesis of Pyrimidines from Alcohols and Amidines

The development of catalytic reactions for synthesizing different compounds from alcohols to save fossil carbon feedstock and reduce CO₂ emissions is of high importance. Replacing rare noble metals with abundantly available 3d metals is equally important. We report a manganese‐complex‐catalyzed multicomponent synthesis of pyrimidines from amidines and up to three alcohols. Our reaction proceeds through condensation and dehydrogenation steps, permitting selective C−C and C−N bond formations. β‐Alkylation reactions are used to multiply alkylate secondary alcohols with two different primary alcohols to synthesize fully substituted pyrimidines in a one‐pot process. Our PN₅P‐Mn‐pincer complexes efficiently catalyze this multicomponent process. A comparison of our manganese catalysts with related cobalt catalysts indicates that manganese shows a reactivity similar to that of iridium but not cobalt. This analogy could be used to develop further (de)hydrogenation reactions with manganese complexes.     

Chemistry in Confinement: Copper and Palladium Catalyzed Ecofriendly Organic Transformations within Porous Frameworks

A concise account on the use of transition metals copper (Cu) and palladium (Pd), as their cations as well as nanoparticles exchanged/immobilized onto porous frameworks such as zeolites, metal organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic polymers (COPs) and hollow nanostructures, functioning as catalysts in organic synthesis is presented. This biomimetic account, “focusing on catalytic systems in confinement” within zero‐dimensional microenvironments and second sphere coordination covers primarily results from our group on N‐sulfonylketenimine mediated cycloaddition, hydrogenation and C−C bond forming reactions, thus providing an interesting insight into the versatility and utility of these Cu and Pd catalysts. Other significant advantages and green credentials of confinement such as stability, selectivity, reusability, promotion of multicomponent reactions, use of green solvents, atom economy, and use of ambient conditions are highlighted at appropriate places. In the final section, our views on the current achievements and the future prospects in this area are summarized.     

n-hydrocarbons conversions over metal-modified solid acid catalysts

The quality of a straight-run fuel oil can be improved if saturated n-hydrocarbons of low octane number are converted to their branched counterparts. Poor reactivity of traditional catalysts in isomerization reactions imposed the need for the development of new catalysts among which noble metal promoted acid catalysts, liquid and/or solid acid catalysts take a prominent place. Sulfated zirconia and metal promoted sulfated zirconia exhibit high activity for the isomerization of light alkanes at low temperatures. The present paper highlights the original results which indicate that the modification of sulfated zirconia by incorporation of metals (platinum and rhenium) significantly affects catalytic performances in n-hydrocarbon conversion reactions. Favourable activity/selectivity of the promoted sulfated zirconia depends on the crystal phase composition, critical crystallites sizes, platinum dispersion, total acidity and type of acidity. Attention is also paid to the recently developed solid acid catalysts used in other conversion reactions of hydrocarbons.     

壳聚糖负载贵金属催化剂的研究进展

壳聚糖负载的贵金属催化剂显示了高催化活性和高选择性,已被用于氧化反应、氢化反应、烯丙基取代反应、羰基化反应、Suzuki和Heck偶联反应、烯烃的不对称二羟基化反应及有机醛、酮的合成反应体系中。本文对其制备方法、可能结构及其在各种反应体系中的催化性能进行了综述。     

Zerovalent metal polymer composites. III. Metallization of metal oxide surfaces with the aid of metallized functional polymer microdispersions

The adsorption of poly[N-(m- and p-vinylbenzyl)-N,N,N-trimethylammonium tetrachloropal-ladate] complex on inorganic oxide surfaces followed by reduction of the palladium salt to form a catalytically active zerovalent metal polymer composite dispersed on the oxide surface and further deposition of transition metals, e.g., nickel, cobalt, and copper, by “additive” or “subtractive” deposition from electroless plating solutions is described. γ-Ferric oxide was used as a template for such intermetallic replacement reactions, providing materials with controlled amounts of metal. Multimetallic catalysts based on aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, lanthanum oxide, magnesium oxide, and silica were prepared. Iron oxide modified by subtractive deposition of rhodium and iridium on nickel-clad iron oxide were evaluated in Fischer–Tropsch carbonylation reactions leading from synthesis gas to alkanols.     

IB金属对Ni/SiO2催化剂乙炔选择性加氢反应性能的影响

乙烯是合成聚乙烯的原料,其主要来源是石油裂解气,其中少量的乙炔杂质会严重毒化生产聚乙烯的催化剂,因此需要将其去除.对于乙炔选择加氢反应,传统工业上使用的是Pd基催化剂,尽管其乙炔转化率很高,但对乙烯的选择性很低.我们前期的研究发现,IB族金属(Au,Ag和Cu)与Pd形成的合金单原子催化剂可以有效地提高乙烯的选择性.作为与Pd同组的非贵金属,Ni催化剂在多种催化加氢反应中显示出优异活性,而在乙炔选择加氢反应中,Ni是否能够替代贵金属Pd尚无定论.本文系统地研究了IB金属对Ni/SiO2催化剂乙炔选择性加氢性能的影响.与Pd/SiO2催化剂不同,单金属Ni/SiO2催化剂在低温下不具有活性.将IB金属添加到Ni/SiO2催化剂中,可以显著提高其催化活性以及对乙烯的选择性.其中,AuNix/SiO2和CuNix/SiO2催化剂的催化活性随还原温度升高而提高,而AgNix/SiO2催化剂对预处理温度不敏感.通过调变IB/Ni原子比和还原温度优化了催化剂的催化性能,发现优化后的三种催化剂(CuNi0.125/SiO2、AgNi0.5/SiO2和AuNi0.5/SiO2)的活性和选择性随反应温度升高表现出相似的变化趋势.催化稳定性考察结果显示,CuNi0.125/SiO2催化剂表现出最高选择性和稳定性;尽管AuNi0.5/SiO2的初始活性最高,但是稳定性最低.采用XRD、TPR和微量吸附量热等表征手段对不同IB金属对Ni基催化剂性质的影响进行了系统考察.以Cu-Nix/SiO2催化剂为例,H2-TPR测试结果表明,Cu-Ni双金属纳米颗粒的形成使得还原温度低于相应的单金属催化剂,表明铜和镍之间存在明显的相互作用.此外,通过TPR获得的CuNix/SiO2催化剂上的氢气消耗量与理论耗氢量相吻合,表明在还原处理的过程中双金属催化剂中的CuO和NiO可以被完全还原.乙炔的微量吸附量热结果表明,在CuNi0.125/SiO2,AgNi0.5/SiO2,AuNi0.5/SiO2和Ni0.5/SiO2催化剂上的初始吸附热分别为187,196,304和103 kJ/mol,即它们的初始乙炔吸附强度顺序为AuNi0.5/SiO2>AgNi0.5/SiO2>CuNi0.125/SiO2>Ni0.5/SiO2.该结果与三者的初始催化活性顺序一致,表明IB金属的加入可以增强乙炔在催化剂表面的吸附,从而提高催化活性.