Hydrogen from selected rare earth

Table IV. Kinetic Data for the Desorption of Hydrogen from Selected Rare Earth Intermetallics...

The skeletal isomerization of tetrabydrodicyclopentadiene into adamantane is an example of a very complex rearrangement diat is commercially carried out over strong Lewis acids with a hydride transfer initiator. The reaction can be catalyzed by rare earth (La, Ce, Y, Nd, Yb) exchanged faujasites (Scheme 1) in a Hj/HCl atmosphere at 25(yX3. Selectivities to adamantane of up to 50% have been reported, when a metal fimction, such as Pt, capable of catalyzing hydrogenation is added [54]. Initially acid catalyzed endo- to exo- isomerization of tetrahydro-dicyclopentadiene takes place and then a series of 1,2 alkyl shifts involving secondary and tertiary carbonium ions leads eventually to adamantane[55]. The possible mechanistic pathways of adamantane formation from tetrahydro-dicyclopentadiene are discussed in detail in ref [56]. 

Transformed rare earth and actinide intermetallic compounds are shown to be very active as catalysts for the synthesis of hydrocarbons from CO2 and hydrogen. Transformed LaNis and ThNis the most active of the materials studied they have a turnover number for CH formation of 2.7 and 4.7 X 10 sec at 205°C, respectively, compared with I X 10 sec for commercial silica-supported nickel catalysts. Nickel intermetallics and CeFe2 show high selectivity for CHj formation. ThFcs shows substantial formation of C2H6 (15%) as well as CHi,. The catalysts are transformed extensively during the experiment into transition metal supported on rare earth or actinide oxide. Those mixtures are much more active than supported catalysts formed by conventional wet chemical means. 

Rare Earth Oxides. Rare earth oxides such as La203 act as solid bases (2,9,15). The catalytic activities of rare earth oxides depend on their pretreatment temperature and the maximum activities of La203 for 1-butene isomerization, H-D exchange between CH4 and D2, and hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene appear at a pretreatment temperature of923 K. Rare earth oxides show unique selectivity in dehydration of alcohols. 1-Alkenes are selectively produced from 2-alkanols such as 4-methyl-2-pentanol. 

Rare earth oxides have been studied to a lesser extent than alkaline earth oxides. However, they show characteristic selectivity in the dehydration of alcohols. Secondary alcohols form 1-olefins, whereas the same reaction over an acid catalyst produces the thermodynamically more stable 2-olefin (312). An example of an industrially important rare earth oxide catalyst is Zr02. It has several applications, including the reduction of aromatic carboxylic acids with hydrogen to aldehydes (314), the dehydration of 1-cyclohexyl ethanol to vinyl cyclohexane (315), and the production of diisobutyl ketone from isobutyraldehyde (316). The extensive use of Zr02 is mainly due to its resistance to poisoning by H2O and CO2, and its inherent catalytic activity is a result of its bifunctional acid-base properties. It contains both weakly acidic and basic sites, neither of which is susceptible to poisoning. The acid-base functionality of Zr02 is displayed in the reaction of alkylamine to nitrile (278) (Fig. 33). To form nitriles from both secondary and tertiary amines, both acid and base sites are required. 

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