Alkane dehydrocyclization with

Pt-Re-alumina catalysts were prepared, using alumina containing potassium to eliminate the support acidity, in order to carry out alkane dehydrocyclization studies that paralleled earlier work with nonacidic Pt-alumina catalysts. The potassium containing Pt-Re catalyst was much less active than a similar Pt catalyst. It was speculated that the alkali metal formed salts of rhenic acid to produce a catalyst that was more difficult to reduce. However, the present ESCA results indicate that the poisoning effect of alkali in Pt-Re catalysts is not primarily due to an alteration in the rhenium reduction characteristics. 

The sextet-doublet model was adapted for 1-5 dehydrocyclization, the reverse of cyclopentane hydrogenolysis, and it was proposed that physically adsorbed alkane reacts with chemisorbed hydrogen according to a push-pull mechanism (772) (Scheme 55). 

This introduction brings us back to the structural analogy shown earlier between the cation 1 dehydrocyclization reaction and the plausible connection between this reaction and that for a 2-octyl cation intermediate 3 (and which could include many other linear alkane carbocation systems with at least six contiguous carbons). Our initial aim therefore was to study computationally the dehydrocyclization of the cyclodecyl cation 1, to see if one could satisfactorily model this known reaction. 

As previously mentioned, Davis (8) has shown that in model dehydrocyclization reactions with a dual function catalyst and an n-octane feedstock, isomerization of the hydrocarbon to 2-and 3-methylheptane is faster than the dehydrocyclization reaction. Although competitive isomerization of an alkane feedstock is commonly observed in model studies using monofunctional (Pt) catalysts, some of the alkanes produced can be rationalized as products of the hydrogenolysis of substituted cyclopentanes, which in turn can be formed on platinum surfaces via free radical-like mechanisms. However, the 2- and 3-methylheptane isomers (out of a total of 18 possible C8Hi8 isomers) observed with dual function catalysts are those expected from the rearrangement of n-octane via carbocation intermediates. Such acid-catalyzed isomerizations are widely acknowledged to occur via a protonated cyclopropane structure (25, 28), in this case one derived from the 2-octyl cation, which can then be the precursor... 

We have not carried out calculations starting with secondary cations derived from the title alkanes because at a computational level, these will have ground-states and transition-states similar to heptane itself (previously discussed). This will be true even though the most stable carbocations in these branched alkanes will be the corresponding tertiary ions, which in themselves will not be directly involved in dehydrocyclization processes. However, one has to keep in mind that the thermodynamic ground-states in these real catalytic reactions will be the alkanes themselves, and in this regard secondary cations formed from n-octane or 2- (or 3-) methylheptane will not differ much in absolute energy. As shown earlier, a 1,6-closure of 2-methylheptane leads eventually to m-xylene, while 3-methylheptane has eventual routes to both o- and p-xylene. 

In contrast to this mechanism, the one proposed in our work operates direct from the oxidation state of the alkane feedstock. The same alkyl cation intermediate can lead to both alkane isomerization (an alkyl cation is widely accepted as the reactive intermediate in these reactions) and we have shown in this paper that a mechanistically viable dehydrocyclization route is feasible starting with the identical cation. Furthermore, the relative calculated barrier for each of the above processes is in accord with the experimental finding of Davis, i.e. that isomerization of a pure alkane feedstock, n-octane, with a dual function catalyst (carbocation intermediate) leads to an equilibration with isooctanes at a faster rate than the dehydrocyclization reaction of these octane isomers (8). 

The first reaction is the isomerization from a zero-octane molecule to an alkane with 100 octane the second is the dehydrocyclization of heptane to toluene with 120 octane, while the third is the rmdesired formation of coke. To reduce the rate of cracking and coke formation, the reactor is run with a high partial pressure of H2 that promotes the reverse reactions, especially the coke removal reaction. Modem catalytic reforming reactors operate at 500 to 550°C in typically a 20 1 mole excess of H2 at pressures of 20-50 atm. These reactions are fairly endothermic, and interstage heating between fixed-bed reactors or periodic withdrawal and heating of feed are used to maintain the desired temperatures as reaction proceeds. These reactors are sketched in Figure 2-16. 

Dehydrocyclizatlon Pt(0) can be used for dehydrogenation of alkanes to alkenes. Ti(0) is known to absorb H2 to form a dihydride. Paquette et al.1 reasoned that a combination of the two metals could in principal effect dehydrocyclization. Indeed, cyclooctane when heated with Pt(0) and Ti(0) (1 1) adsorbed in A1203 is converted into bicyclo[3.3.0]octane (equation I). 

This reaction, like dicarbene recombination, also has its analog in coordination chemistry, that is, reductive elimination of tetramethylene and pentamethylene ligands from platinum complexes yields cyclobutane and cyclopentane, respectively (777). According to this direct ring closure mechanism, the observed selectivity for dehydrocyclization of n-alkanes on metals (nonformation of quaternary-secondary and tertiary-secondary C-C bonds in reactions of type A and B) should be interpreted in terms of simple steric effects. However, although, in the case of platinum, the concepts of steric hindrance could account for the change of selectivity that occurs with decreasing metal particle size (i.e., cyclization of n-hexane takes place on... 

Figure 5.1 Major reactions in catalytic reforming illustrated with specific examples (a) dehydrogenation of cyclohexanes to aromatic hydrocarbons (b) dehydroisomerization of alkylcyclopentanes to aromatic hydrocarbons (c) dehydrocyclization of alkanes to aromatic hydrocarbons (d) isomerization of n -alkanes to branched alkanes (e) fragmentation reactions (hydrocracking and hydrogenolysis) yielding low carbon number alkanes.

The attractive features of platinum-rhenium and platinum-iridium catalysts can be combined in a reforming operation. The data for the reactions of selected hydrocarbons considered earlier for platinum-rhenium and platinum-iridium catalysts indicate that the former catalyst is more selective for the conversion of cycloalkanes to aromatics, while the latter is more selective for the dehydrocyclization of alkanes. Since cycloalkane conversion occurs primarily in the initial part of a reforming system while dehydrocyclization is the predominant reaction after the cycloalkanes have reacted, it is reasonable to use a platinum-rhenium catalyst in the front of the system and to follow it with a platinum-iridium catalyst (32). 

The benzoic acid might also be made by the Diels-Alder reaction of 1,3-butadiene with acrylic acid followed by catalytic dehydrogenation. Treatment of phenol with ammonia at high temperatures produces aniline, as mentioned in Chap. 2. Ethylbenzene can be rearranged to xylenes with zeolite catalysts. Thus, it could serve as a source of ph-thalic, isophthalic, and terephthalic acids by the oxidation of o, m, and p-xylenes. (The xylenes and other aromatic hydrocarbons can also be made by the dehydrocyclization of ethylene, propylene, and butenes, or their corresponding alkanes.44 Benzene can also be made from methane.195)... 

Figure 7.38. The structure sensitivity of dehydrocyclization of alkanes to aromatic hydrocarbons. The bar graphs compare reaction rates for n-hexane and n-heptane catalyzed at 573 K and atmospheric pressure over the two flat platinum single-crystal faces with different atomic structure. The Pt surface with a hexagonal atomic arrangement is several times more active than the surface with a square unit cell over a wide range of reaction conditions [155].

The formation of aromatics from alkanes with less than six carbon atoms in their main chain (eg, methylpentanes) is also possible but proceeds much less readily than direct Ce-dehydrocyclization (13,85). This mechanism should involve a sort of dehydrogenative bond shift isomerization. The optimum hydrogen pressure (Fig. 5a) for aromatization of heptane isomers with less than six carbon atoms... 

Straight-run gasoline is composed primarily of alkanes and cycloalkanes with only a small fraction of aromatics, and has a low ON of about 50. The ON is improved by catalytic reforming of n-paraffins and cycloalkanes into branched alkanes and aromatics. The main reactions are isomerization (w- to iso-), cycli-zation, dehydrogenation, and dehydrocyclization. The bifunctional catalyst has an acidic function to catalyze isomerization and cyclization and a dehydrogenation function that requires an active metal site. Typically, platinum is used as the metal and AI2O3 for the acidity. 

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