Control of selectivity in heterogeneous catalysis by tuning nanoparticle properties and reactor residence time
作者:Elad Gross、Jack Hung-Chang Liu、F. Dean Toste、Gabor A. Somorjai
DOI:10.1038/nchem.1465
日期:2012.11
A combination of the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis could enable the development of sustainable catalysts with novel reactivity and selectivity. Although heterogeneous catalysts are often recycled more easily than their homogeneous counterparts, they can be difficult to apply in traditional organic reactions and modification of their properties towards a desired reactivity is, at best, complex. In contrast, tuning the properties of homogeneous catalysts by, for example, modifying the ligands that coordinate a metal centre is better understood. Here, using olefin cyclopropanation reactions catalysed by dendrimer-encapsulated Au nanoclusters as examples, we demonstrate that changing the dendrimer properties allows the catalytic reactivity to be tuned in a similar fashion to ligand modification in a homogeneous catalyst. Furthermore, we show that these heterogeneous catalysts employed in a fixed-bed flow reactor allow fine control over the residence time of the reactants and thus enables the control over product distribution in a way that is not easily available for homogeneous catalysts. Heterogeneous catalysts are generally more readily recycled than homogeneous catalysts, but the latter are more easily modified to tune reactivity and selectivity. Here, the dendrimer coating of gold nanoparticle catalysts is shown to be a surrogate for the ligands of homogeneous catalysts. Tuning of product distribution and reaction selectivity is possible when these catalysts are employed in a fixed-bed flow reactor.
均相催化和非均相催化的优点相结合,可能促进新型反应活性与选择性可持续催化剂的发展。尽管非均相催化剂通常比均相催化剂更容易回收,但它们在传统有机反应中往往难以应用,而且其朝理想反应活性方向的性能改变大多十分复杂。相比之下,正如通过修饰配体来调节金属中心的性质那样,人们更为了解如何调节均相催化剂的特性。在这里,我们以树枝状聚合物包封的金纳米团簇为催化剂的烯烃环丙烷化反应为例,证明改变树枝状聚合物属性即可实现类似均相催化剂中配体改性的催化活性的调节。此外,我们证明了这类非均相催化剂用于固定床流动反应器中时,可以精确控制反应物的停留时间,进而实现传统均相催化剂难以获取的产物分布调控。非均相催化剂通常比均相催化剂更易于回收,但后者更容易进行反应活性与选择性的调控。本研究表明,金纳米粒子催化剂的树枝状涂层是一种均相催化剂配体的替代品。当这些催化剂用于固定床流动反应器中时,可以调控产物分布和反应选择性。