Fischer heterogeneous

Hardness on the Mohs scale is often above 8 and sometimes approaches 10 (diamond). These properties commend nitrides for use as crucibles, high-temperature reaction vessels, thermocouple sheaths and related applications. Several metal nitrides are also used as heterogeneous catalysts, notably the iron nitrides in the Fischer-Tropsch hydriding of carbonyls. Few chemical reactions of metal nitrides have been studied the most characteristic (often extremely slow but occasionally rapid) is hydrolysis to give ammonia or nitrogen ... 

Additional utilization of the water gas shift reaction also allows ethylene or methanol to be produced in a second synthesis step, which was developed around 1925 by Fischer and Tropsch [2], The catalyst for this heterogeneous process consists of Co-Th02-MgO mixtures supported on kieselgur. 

The induction of steric effects by the pore walls was first demonstrated with heterogeneous catalysts, prepared from metal carbonyl clusters such as Rh6(CO)16, Ru3(CO)12, or Ir4(CO)12, which were synthesized in situ after a cation exchange process under CO in the large pores of zeolites such as HY, NaY, or 13X.25,26 The zeolite-entrapped carbonyl clusters are stable towards oxidation-reduction cycles this is in sharp contrast to the behavior of the same clusters supported on non-porous inorganic oxides. At high temperatures these metal carbonyl clusters aggregate to small metal particles, whose size is restricted by the dimensions of the zeolitic framework. Moreover, for a number of reactions, the size of the pores controls the size of the products formed thus a higher selectivity to the lower hydrocarbons has been reported for the Fischer Tropsch reaction. 

Comparing heterogeneous Fischer-Tropsch synthesis with homogeneous olefin hydroformylation can be seen as a source for understanding catalytic principles, particularly because the selectivity is complex and therefore highly informative. Reliable analytical techniques must be readily available. 

FIGURE 9.26 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis vs. Oxo synthesis on cobalt catalysts. The thermodynamically controlled shift from heterogeneous to homogeneous catalysis. 

The reaction does not proceed in the absence of catalysts. As the contemporary Fischer-Tropsch catalysts were heterogeneous, the first hydroformylation catalyst was a solid (66% silica, 30% cobalt, 2% thorium oxide, and 2% magnesium oxide). Only later was the conclusion reached and proved (5) that the actual catalytic species is homogeneous. 

The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, which may be broadly defined as the reductive polymerization of carbon monoxide, can be schematically represented as shown in Eq. (1). The CHO products in Eq. (1) are any organic molecules containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen which are stable under the reaction conditions employed in the synthesis. With most heterogeneous catalysts the primary products of the reaction are straight-chain alkanes, while the secondary products include branched-chain hydrocarbons, alkenes, alcohols, aldehydes, and carboxylic acids. The distribution of the various products depends on both the type of catalyst and the reaction conditions employed (4). 

Only visual inspection of the reaction solution was made. Since the metals used, i.e., Ru, Os, Ir, Co, are heterogeneous Fischer-Tropsch catalysts, definite proof of the homogeneity of these systems must await detailed spectroscopic and kinetic measurements. 

The data available for heterogeneous Fischer-Tropsch catalysts indicate that with cobalt-based catalysts the rate of the water gas-shift reaction is very slow under the synthesis conditions (5). Thus, water is formed together with the hydrocarbon products [Eq. (14)]. The iron-based catalysts show some shift activity, but even with these catalysts, considerable quantities of water are produced. 

The mechanisms proposed over the last 50 years for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, principally on the basis of studies using heterogeneous catalyst systems, may be divided into three main classes (a) metal-carbide mechanisms (b) hydroxyl carbene, =CH(OH), condensation mechanisms and (c) CO insertion mechanisms. 

Subsequent studies have failed to support the carbide theory, and it is now generally accepted that carbides of the type proposed by Craxford play little or no part in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (86, 87). It has, however, recently been suggested, by analogy with the mechanism proposed for the Haber synthesis of ammonia, that carbides formed by dissociative absorption of carbon monoxide would be expected to be readily hydrogenated and could therefore be of importance in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis over heterogeneous catalyst (88). 

The existence of such a growth step is consistent with the high proportion of C2 products found in the Ir4(CO)12/NaCl-2AlCl3 system (59). Furthermore, in systems where dimerization is less favored, hydrogenation of the primary carbene fragment could explain the considerable amounts of methane formed in many heterogeneous Fischer-Tropsch systems. 

A search for alternative energy supplies has triggered efforts to develop efficient homogeneous catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch-type syntheses via hydrogenation of carbon monoxide, a likely future key material available, for example, through oxidation of coal (33, 327, 328, 417, 418). Metal cluster systems have been used in attempts to emulate the presently used heterogeneous catalysts. The important reactions are methanation,... 

There has been considerable recent research interest in the activation of carbon monoxide en route to more complex organic molecules. Among the various reactions that have been investigated and/or newly discovered, the transition metal catalyzed reduction of CO to hydrocarbons (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis) has enjoyed particular attention (l- ). Whereas most of the successful efforts in this area have been directed toward the development of heterogeneous catalysts, there are relatively few homogeneous systems. Among these, two are based on clusters (10,11) and others are stoichiometric in metal (12-17). In this report we detail the synthesis and catalytic chemistry of polystyrene ( ) supported... 

The hydroformylation of alkenes was accidentally discovered by Roelen while he was studying the Fischer-Tropsch reaction (syn-gas conversion to liquid fuels) with a heterogeneous cobalt catalyst in the late thirties. In a mechanistic experiment Roelen studied whether alkenes were intermediates in the "Aufbau" process of syn-gas (from coal, Germany 1938) to fuel. He found that alkenes were converted to aldehydes or alcohols containing one more carbon atom. It took more than a decade before the reaction was taken further, but now it was the conversion of petrochemical hydrocarbons into oxygenates that was desired. It was discovered that the reaction was not catalysed by the supported cobalt but in fact by HCo(CO)4 which was formed in the liquid state. 

Determination of the Effect of Water on Poljnnerization. To a solution of 4.76 mmole of HFB and 4.76 mmole of Bis-A in 20 ml of the appropriate solvent of known water content was added 20.6 mmole of K2CO3 and 1.32 mmole of 18-crown-6 ether. The crown ether, when necessary was dried by complexation with acetonitrile. Water content of solvent and catalyst was determined in all runs by Karl Fischer titration. Known microliter quantites of water in increments of lOyl were then added to the reaction mixture. The magnetically stirred, heterogeneous mixture was heated in an oil bath and maintained under N2. Upon cooling to room temperature, the reaction mixture was slowly poured into ca. 300 ml of a nonsolvent vigorously stirred in a blender. The filtered solids were washed three times with 300-ml portions of distilled water. 

Hydroformylation is clearly related to the Fischer-Tropsch reactions, in which CO/H2 mixtures (in effect, water-gas Section 9.3) react over heterogeneous catalysts to give organic compounds such as methanol. 

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