Surface studies of magnesium oxide‐based catalysts modified with X2 or MgX2 (X = Br,I)

The introduction of a halide (Br, I) onto MgO leads to obtaining catalysts whose catalytic activity in transfer hydrogenation of acrolein with ethanol is significantly higher than that of unmodified MgO. In data found in literature, there is no concise view on how the modification of the surface of MgO with a halide affects its surface properties. Although most of the literature studies indicate a dependence of activity on the initial halide‐containing compound and type of halide, no study comprising both these aspects has been performed. The aim of the present study was to conduct measurements of MgO modified with two halides and with two types of initial halide‐containing compounds with surface‐sensitive techniques to determine how each of these factors influences the surface properties of the catalyst. Titration experiments showed that all of the modified catalysts have a smaller diversity of basic site strengths than unmodified MgO. They also revealed that for all studied systems, the modification of the surface leads to the formation of Brønsted acidic sites, which MgO does not possess. XPS spectra indicate that bromine‐modified catalysts give a broader range of surface species than the appropriate iodine‐modified ones. Moreover, they showed that in the case of both iodine‐modified and bromine‐modified catalysts, the one that exhibited the higher concentration of the appropriate halogen on the surface showed a lower activity in catalytic transfer hydrogenation of acrolein with ethanol. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.