Catalysts research opportunities

Arakawa, H. Catalyst research of relevance to carbon management progress, challenges and opportunities. Chem. Rev. 2001, 101, 953-996. 

Although this abbreviated survey could stress only some of the most important points, the author has taken the opportunity to incorporate some brief remarks on the recent results obtained by his research group at Delft University and on the catalyst research group of the Central Laboratory of the Staatsmijnen at Geleen (the Netherlands). He wishes to express his sincere thanks to Mr. P. Zwietering of the latter group for his assistance in preparing this review. 

That is just the beginning. There are a lot of research opportunities in so-called nanotechnology for catalyst design beyond the immediate active site. In my opinion, this is an area that will be very fruitful the preceding example suggests that it can be done. 

There are also different hypotheses on the reaction mechanism, as will be discussed in the following chapters. This is still an open area of research and a further understanding will certainly lead to the development of improved catalysts. There are, in particular, three main areas in which further development is necessary (1) improve the low-temperature activity, e.g. below 250°C, (2) improve resistance by deactivation by sulphur and (3) improve the hydrothermal stability. Hydrotalcite-based materials [3la,97] offer interesting opportunities in this direction. 

The above achievements depend highly on both the recent advances in rational catalyst design with the aid of computational science represented by DFT calculations and the wide range of catalyst design possibilities that are afforded by FI catalysts. These possibilities are derived from the readily varied steric and electronic properties of the phenoxy-imine ligands. It is expected that future research on FI catalysts will provide opportunities to produce additional polyolefin-based materials with unique microstructures and a chance to study catalysis and mechanisms for olefin polymerization. 

It is now clear that asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation is rather successful. However, the initial research work of Sharpless [5] in the asymmetric epoxidation, followed by the results of Jacobsen et al. [6] opened large opportunities for liquid-phase asymmetric oxidation. Sharpless epoxidation has been widely applied in bench-scale organic synthesis, and more recently, salene derivatives emerged among the most effective catalysts in this reaction [7,8],... 

T,he original report by Barrer and Makki (1) that aluminum in a high A silica zeolite, clinoptilolite, could be extracted with mineral acid to give a silica pseudomorph, has given rise to considerable research on acid-extracted mordenite (2-6). Hydrogen mordenite is useful as an adsorbent and a catalyst, and its properties for some purposes are improved by partial extraction of the aluminum. Further, the ability to vary aluminum content while maintaining crystallinity offers the opportunity to leam more about the nature of the active sites in mordenite. 

Research is currently directed toward development of novel technologies that may present economic advantages with respect to the conventional acetone cyanohydrin lACHl route. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. has developed and patented n modified acetone cyanohydrin-based route that docs not use sulfuric acid and therefore presents the opportunity lor reduced waste costs. A nuvel C-3 route based on the palladium-catalyzed carbonylaiion of methylatelylenc has been developed by Shell Oil Co. There have been significant improvements in catalysts and resulting yields for key transformations in many routes since the 19K(K... 

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