Methyl orange degradation enhanced by hydrogen spillover onto platinum nanocatalyst surface

Following a thermal reduction method, platinum nanoparticles were synthesized and stabilized by polyvinylpyrrolidone. The colloidal platinum nanoparticles were stable for more than 3 months. The micrograph analysis unveiled that the colloidal platinum nanoparticles were well dispersed with an average size of 2.53 nm. The sol–gel‐based inverse micelle strategy was applied to synthesize mesoporous iron oxide material. The colloidal platinum nanoparticles were deposited on mesoporous iron oxide through the capillary inclusion method. The small‐angle X‐ray scattering analysis indicated that the dimension of platinum nanoparticles deposited on mesoporous iron oxide (Pt‐Fe₂O₃) was 2.64 nm. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data showed that the binding energy on Pt‐Fe₂O₃ surface decreased owing to mesoporous support–nanoparticle interaction. Both colloidal and deposited platinum nanocatalysts improved the degradation of methyl orange under reduction conditions. The activation energy on the deposited platinum nanocatalyst interface (2.66 kJ mol^?1) was significantly lowered compared with the one on the colloidal platinum nanocatalyst interface (40.63 ± 0.53 kJ mol^?1).     

Aryl Boronic Acid Catalysed Dehydrative Substitution of Benzylic Alcohols for C−O Bond Formation

A combination of pentafluorophenylboronic acid and oxalic acid catalyses the dehydrative substitution of benzylic alcohols with a second alcohol to form new C−O bonds. This method has been applied to the intermolecular substitution of benzylic alcohols to form symmetrical ethers, intramolecular cyclisations of diols to form aryl-substituted tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran derivatives, and intermolecular crossed-etherification reactions between two different alcohols. Mechanistic control experiments have identified a potential catalytic intermediate formed between the aryl boronic acid and oxalic acid.