Active EXAFS

RhCl(NH3)5]Cl2 exchanged with NaX form a highly active catalyst (RhA) for MeOH carbonylation when used with an organic iodide promoter. Systems prepared from RhCl3 are far less active. EXAFS spectroscopy from the Rh K-edge was used to follow the fate of the Rh... 

Figure 8.39 shows some results of EXAFS following absorption by iron atoms in proteins with three prototype iron-sulphur active sites. In the example in Figure 8.39(a) application of a 0.9-3.5 A filter window before Fourier retransformation shows a single wave resulting... 

Results from an array of methods, including X-ray absorption, EXAFS, esr and magnetic circular dichroism, suggest that in all ureases the active sites are a pair of Ni" atoms. In at least one urease,these are 350 pm apart and are bridged by a carboxylate group. One nickel is attached to 2 N atoms with a fourth site probably used for binding to urea. The second nickel has a trigonal bipyramidal coordination sphere. 

In addition to in situ NMR spectroscopy, other methods such as in situ IR spectroscopy, EXAFS, and electrochemistry should be very useful for the investigation of active catalytic species in ionic liquids. However, far too little effort has been directed to this end in recent years. 

The two subunits of CODH/ACS have been dissociated to offer a clearer picture of the ACS active site 135). The holoenzyme contains 2 Ni, 12 Fe, and 14 S 120) that are organized into 3 discrete clusters, whereas the isolated a subunit contains only 1 Ni and 4 Fe and has spectroscopic properties similar to those of Cluster A in the native enzyme 186). Based on EXAFS spectroscopy of the a. subunit, the Ni site in Cluster A has been proposed to be coordinated to 2 sulfur ligands at 2.19 A and 2 nitrogen or oxygen ligands at 1.89 A in a distorted square plane 186). 

The discovery of a new heterodinuclear active site in [NiFe] hydro-genases opens the way for the proposal of catalytic cycles based on the available spectroscopic data on the different active site redox states, namely EXAFS studies that reveal that the Ni-edge energy upon reduction of the enzyme supports an increase in the charge density of the nickel (191). 

A MgO-supported W—Pt catalyst has been prepared from IWsPttCOIotNCPh) (i -C5H5)2l (Fig. 70), reduced under a Hs stream at 400 C, and characterized by IR, EXAFS, TEM and chemisorption of Hs, CO, and O2. Activity in toluene hydrogenation at 1 atm and 60 C was more than an order of magnitude less for the bimetallic cluster-derived catalyst, than for a catalyst prepared from the two monometallic precursors. 

The goal of this work was to prepare and characterize PtRu/MgO catalysts from cluster A which contained Pt-Ru bonds and compare with that prepared from a mixed solution of Pt(acac)2 and Ru(acac)3. The characterization methods included IR and EXAFS spectroscopy. Ethylene hydrogenation was used to test the catalytic activity of both PtRu/MgO catalysts. 

Owing largely to research over the last twenty years, the sulfided C0-M0/AI2O3 system is one of the best-characterized industrial catalysts [H. Topsoe, B.S. Clausen and F.E. Massoth, Hydrotreating Catalysis (1996), Springer-Verlag, Berlin]. A combination of methods, such as Mbssbauer spectroscopy, EXAFS, XPS, and infrared spectroscopy, has led to a picture in which the active site of such a catalyst is known in almost atomic detail. 

Alonso-Vante N, Malakhov IV, Nikitenko SG, Savinova ER, Kochubey DI (2002) The structure analysis of the active centers of Ru-containing electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction. An in situ EXAFS study. Electrochim Acta 47 3807-3814... 

In the following, structural data are obtained for Ft atoms and their near neighbors on active catalysts under controlled conditions. XANES Is used to Indicate the direction and amount of d-electron flow between the Ft catalyst and Its ligands, EXAFS to measure near neighbor structural parameters. We find EXAFS/XANES to be a sensitive and subtle Indicator of small changes In the environment of catalytic atoms. 

A cationic molybdenum sulfide cluster [Mo3S4(H20)9] " with incomplete cubane-type structure and a cationic nickel-molybdenum mixed sulfide cluster [Mo3NiS4Cl(H20)9p " with complete cubane-type structure were introduced into zeolites NaY, HUSY and KL by ion exchange. Stoichiometry of the ion exchange was well established by elemental analyses. The UV-visible spectra and EXAFS analysis data exhibited that the structure of the molybdenum cluster remained virtually intact after ion exchange. MoNi/NaY catalyst prepared using the molybdenum-nickel sulfide cluster was found to be active and selective for benzothiophene hydrodesulfurization. 

In contrast to MoSx/NaY, the Fourier transform for MoSj/NaY clearly showed Mo-O bondings as well as Mo-S and Mo-Mo bondings as summarized in Table 1. It is evident that Mo oxide species in calcined MoOj/NaY are only partially sulfided. XPS results corroborated the EXAFS results. The incomplete sulfidation of the Mo species in MoS /NaY may explain in part the relatively low HDS and HYD activities of the cat ysts in Figs.l and 2. 

MoSx-CoSx/NaY catalysts, which were prepared by introducing Mo(CO) into CoSx/NaY (l.lCo/SC), showed the identical HDS activities with those of CoSx-MoSx/NaY at the same compositions, as illustrated in Fig.4. Figure-4 suggests that the dispersions of Mo and Co sulfides are not mutually affected by the presence of the other sulfide species or that the formation of catalytically active species, e.g. Co-Mo mixed sulfide species, is independent of the accommodation order. As shown telow, FTIR of NO adsorption, EXAFS, and XPS results supported the latter pwssibility. 

The IR spectra in Fig.7 indicate the preferential adsorption of NO on the Co sites. It may be conjectured that the Mo sulfide species are physically covered by the Co sulfide species or that Co-Mo mixed sulfide species are formed and the chemical natures of the Co and Mo sulfides are mutually modified. The Mo K-edge EXAFS spectra were measured to examine the formation of mixed sulfide species between Co and Mo sulfides. The Fourier transforms are presented in Fig.8 for MoSx/NaY and CoSx-MoSx/NaY. The structural parameters derived from EXAFS analysis are summarized in Table 1. The structure and dispersion of the Mo sulfides in MoSx/NaY are discussed above. With the Co-Mo binary sulfide catalyst, the Mo-Co bondings are clearly observed at 0.283 nm in addition to the Mo-S and Mo-Mo bondings. The Mo-Co distance is close to that reported by Bouwens et al. [7] for a CoMoS phase supported on activated carbon. Detailed analysis of the EXAFS results for CoSx-MoSx/NaY will be presented elsewhere. It is concluded that the Co-Mo mixed sulfides possessing Co-S-Mo chemical bondings are formed in CoSx-MoSx/NaY. 

Fig. 5 XANES region, -weighted Fourier transformed of the raw EXAFS functions and the corresponding first shell filtered, Fourier back transform (a, b and c, respectively) of TS-1 activated at 400 °C (full lines), after interaction with water (wet sample, dashed lines) and after interaction with NH3 (Pnh3 = 50 Torr, dotted lines). Adapted from [64] with permission. Copyright (2002) by the ACS...

Summarizing, the in situ UV-Vis, XANES, and EXAFS studies of Bonino et al. [49] and of Prestipino et al. [50] on hydrated and anhydrous peroxo/hy-droperoxo complexes on crystalhne microporous and amorphous meso-porous titanosilicates have shown, for the first time, the equilibriiun between r] side-on and end-on complexes. The amount of water is the key factor in the equilibrium displacement. In this regard please note that, owing to the hydrophobic character of TS-1, substrates such as olefins are the dominant species in the channels. This fact assures a relatively local low concentration of water, which in turn guarantees a sufficient presence of the active end-on... 

Since we are interested in evaluating structure-activity relationships (see Sect. 2.2), it is important to combine several analytical methods to allow a characterization at a molecular level for example, elemental analysis, IR, and advanced NMR spectroscopies, EXAFS and chemical reactivity studies. 

This means that the improvement of catalytic activity of Pd nanoparticles by involving the Pt core is completely attributed to the electronic effect of the core Pt upon shell Pd. Such clear conclusion can be obtained in this bimetallic system only because the Pt-core/Pd-shell structure can be precisely analyzed by EXAFS and Pd atoms are catalytically active while Pt atoms are inactive. 

However, in some cases oxidic gold species may be the active sites for CO oxidation. Gates reported that oxidic gold dispersed on La203 by using GG of Au acac complex is active at room temperature [43]. On the other hand, we have recently found that over Au/La coprecipitates calcined at temperatures below 500 K are active even at 193 K [46]. The EXAFS and XANES analyses of the active samples showed that oxidic gold stabilized by La(OH)3 is responsible for low-temperature activity. 

The high activity of the Rh/y-Al203 system even at such a low Rh loading (0.1% w/w) can be rationalized on the basis that, as indicated by IR studies of adsorbed CO and EXAFS analysis, all the Rh atoms are zerovalent coordination by the NR3 molecules protects them from oxidation by the solid support [24,35]. 

---