Lewis acidic site catalysts

Still another type of adsorption system is that in which either a proton transfer occurs between the adsorbent site and the adsorbate or a Lewis acid-base type of reaction occurs. An important group of solids having acid sites is that of the various silica-aluminas, widely used as cracking catalysts. The sites center on surface aluminum ions but could be either proton donor (Brpnsted acid) or Lewis acid in type. The type of site can be distinguished by infrared spectroscopy, since an adsorbed base, such as ammonia or pyridine, should be either in the ammonium or pyridinium ion form or in coordinated form. The type of data obtainable is illustrated in Fig. XVIII-20, which shows a portion of the infrared spectrum of pyridine adsorbed on a Mo(IV)-Al203 catalyst. In the presence of some surface water both Lewis and Brpnsted types of adsorbed pyridine are seen, as marked in the figure. Thus the features at 1450 and 1620 cm are attributed to pyridine bound to Lewis acid sites, while those at 1540... 

An additional effect of the use of an organic medium in the catalyst preparation is creation of mote defects in the crystalline lattice when compared to a catalyst made by the aqueous route (123). These defects persist in the active phase and are thought to result in creation of strong Lewis acid sites on the surface of the catalysts (123,127). These sites ate viewed as being responsible for the activation of butane on the catalyst surface by means of abstraction of a hydrogen atom. 

The mineral talc is extremely soft (Mohs hardness = 1), has good sHp, a density of 2.7 to 2.8 g/cm, and a refractive index of 1.58. It is relatively inert and nonreactive with conventional acids and bases. It is soluble in hydroduoric acid. Although it has a pH in water of 9.0 to 9.5, talc has Lewis acid sites on its surface and at elevated temperatures is a mild catalyst for oxidation, depolymerization, and cross-linking of polymers. 

Catalyst acid properties depend on several parameters, including method of preparation, dehydration temperature, silica-to-alumina ratio, and the ratio of Bronsted to Lewis acid sites. 

Both the Bronsted and Lewis acid sites on the catalyst generate carbenium ions. The Bronsted site donates a proton to an olefin molecule and the Lewis site removes electrons from a paraffin molecule. In commercial units, olefins come in with the feed or are produced through thermal cracking reactions. 

This review will endeavor to outline some of the advantages of Raman Spectroscopy and so stimulate interest among workers in the field of surface chemistry to utilize Raman Spectroscopy in the study of surface phenomena. Up to the present time, most of the work has been directed to adsorption on oxide surfaces such as silicas and aluminas. An examination of the spectrum of a molecule adsorbed on such a surface may reveal information as to whether the molecule is physically or chemically adsorbed and whether the adsorption site is a Lewis acid site (an electron deficient site which can accept electrons from the adsorbate molecule) or a Bronsted acid site (a site which can donate a proton to an adsorbate molecule). A specific example of a surface having both Lewis and Bronsted acid sites is provided by silica-aluminas which are used as cracking catalysts. 

Group 4 metal complexes of the dianion [ BuNP( -N Bu)2PN Bu] polymerize ethylene in the presence of a co-catalyst, but they are readily deactivated [10,14]. This behaviour is attributed to coordination of the lone-pair electrons on the phosphorus(III) centers to Lewis acid sites, which initiates ring opening of the ligand [15]. 

The activity and stability of catalysts for methane-carbon dioxide reforming depend subtly upon the support and the active metal. Methane decomposes to carbon and hydrogen, forming carbon on the oxide support and the metal. Carbon on the metal is reactive and can be oxidized to CO by oxygen from dissociatively adsorbed COj. For noble metals this reaction is fast, leading to low coke accumulation on the metal particles The rate of carbon formation on the support is proportional to the concentration of Lewis acid sites. This carbon is non reactive and may cover the Pt particles causing catalyst deactivation. Hence, the combination of Pt with a support low in acid sites, such as ZrO, is well suited for long term stable operation. For non-noble metals such as Ni, the rate of CH4 dissociation exceeds the rate of oxidation drastically and carbon forms rapidly on the metal in the form of filaments. The rate of carbon filament formation is proportional to the particle size of Ni Below a critical Ni particle size (d<2 nm), formation of carbon slowed down dramatically Well dispersed Ni supported on ZrO is thus a viable alternative to the noble metal based materials. 

Figures 2.a-c show the pyridine adsorption results. Bronsted acidity is manifested by the bands at 1440-1445,1630-1640 and 1530-1550 cm . Bands at 1600-1630 cm are assigned to pyridine bonded to Lewis acid sites. Certain bands such as the 1440-1460 and 1480-1490 cm can be due to hydrogen-bonded, protonated or Lewis-coordinated pyridine species. Under continuous nitrogen purging, spectra labeled as "A" in Figures 2a-c represent saturation of the surface at room temperature (90 25 unol pyridine/g found in all three tungsta catalysts) and "F" show the baseline due to the dry catalyst. We cannot entirely rule out the possibility of some extent of weakly bound pyridine at room temperature. Nevertheless, the pyridine DRIFTS experiments show the presence of Brpnsted acidity, which is expected to be the result of water of reduction that did not desorb upon purging at the reduction temperature. It is noted that, regardless of the presence of Pt, the intensity of the DRIFTS signals due to pyridine are...

IR spectroscopy of two supports was used for the determination of their surface acidity. The presence of Lewis acid sites on the surface of sepiolite allowed the preparation of a catalyst able to transform citral into menthol in fairly good yield under veiy mild conditions (90°C, 1 barH2). 

On the contrary, the Lewis acid sites present on the snrface of sepiolite make the Cn/sepiolite catalyst extremely active in promoting the ene reaction of citronellal. Thns, citronellal never accnmnlates in the reaction mixtnre bnt it is com erted into isopulegol as soon as it forms. Hydrogenation of isopnlegol is very slow nnder these reaction conditions, bnt this simple catalyst is able to produce menthol in a one-pot-one-step reaction under very mild experimental conditions. Notably dehydration products, which give account of 40% of the reaction mixture obtained over Ni-H-MCM-41 [4], are kept under 20% over both Cu catalysts. 

The specific surface area of the fresh and used catalysts was measured by nitrogen adsorption method (Sorptometer 1900, Carlo Erba Instruments). The catalysts were outgassed at 473 K prior to the measurements and the Dubinin equation was used to calculate the specific surface area. The acidity of investigated samples was measured by infrared spectroscopy (ATI Mattson FTIR) by using pyridine (>99.5%, a.r.) as a probe molecule for qualitative and quantitative determination of both Bronstcd and Lewis acid sites (further denoted as BAS and LAS). The amounts of BAS and LAS were calculated from the intensities of corresponding spectral bands by using the molar extinction coefficients reported by Emeis (23). Full details of the acidity measurements are provided elsewhere (22). 

Catalyst Bruns ted acid sites, pmol/g Lewis acid sites, pmol/g ... 

Cu/MgO and Cu/Si02 gel were found to be the most active, followed by the catalysts obtained supporting copper on fumed silica and silica modified with small amount of a second oxide containing Lewis acid sites. It is also worth noting that the reaction over Cu/MgO is selective while small amounts of secondary products are formed over the other catalysts. 

Mg/Me (Me=Al, Fe) mixed oxides prepared from hydrotalcite precursors were compared in the gas-phase m-cresol methylation in order to find out a relationship between catalytic activity and physico-chemical properties. It was found that the regio-selectivity in the methylation is considerably affected by the surface acid-basic properties of the catalysts. The co-existence of Lewis acid sites and basic sites leads to an enhancement of the selectivity to the product of ortho-C-alkylation with respect to the sole presence of basic sites. This derives from the combination of two effects, (i) The H+-abstraction properties of the basic site lead to the generation of the phenolate anion, (ii) The coordinative properties of Lewis acid sites, through their interaction with the aromatic ring, make the mesomeric effect less efficient, with predominance of the inductive effect of the -O species in directing the regio-selectivity of the C-methylation into the ortho position. 

This interpretation is further confirmed by the results obtained in the liquid-phase methylation of m-cresol with Mg/Fe mixed oxides having different Fe contents Mgi.xFexOi+i/2x. In these catalysts the number of Lewis acid sites was proportional to the Fe content [4], Figure 4 plots the selectivity parameters and the number of Lewis acid sites as a function of the Mg/Fe ratio in catalysts (selectivity was calculated at very low m-cresol conversion, thus in the absence of any consecutive reaction). 

Figure 2. The influence of both BAS (Bronsted acid sites) and LAS (Lewis acid sites) acidity (in pmol/g) on selectivities of methanol conversion products on Fe-Beta-300(a) as well as co-reaction products (b) of methanol with methyl iodide on Fe-Beta-300 as a function of catalyst temperature.

Cr-ZSM-5 catalysts prepared by solid-state reaction from different chromium precursors (acetate, chloride, nitrate, sulphate and ammonium dichromate) were studied in the selective ammoxidation of ethylene to acetonitrile. Cr-ZSM-5 catalysts were characterized by chemical analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, FTIR (1500-400 cm 1), N2 physisorption (BET), 27A1 MAS NMR, UV-Visible spectroscopy, NH3-TPD and H2-TPR. For all samples, UV-Visible spectroscopy and H2-TPR results confirmed that both Cr(VI) ions and Cr(III) oxide coexist. TPD of ammonia showed that from the chromium incorporation, it results strong Lewis acid sites formation at the detriment of the initial Bronsted acid sites. The catalyst issued from chromium chloride showed higher activity and selectivity toward acetonitrile. This activity can be assigned to the nature of chromium species formed using this precursor. In general, C r6+ species seem to play a key role in the ammoxidation reaction but Cr203 oxide enhances the deep oxidation. 

Acid catalysis by titanium silicate molecular sieves another area characterized by recent major progress. Whereas only two categories of acid-catalyzed reactions (the Beckmann rearrangement and MTBE synthesis) were included in the review by Notari in 1996 (33), the list has grown significantly since then. In view of the presence of weak Lewis acid sites on the surfaces of these catalysts, they can be used for reactions that require such weak acidity. 

The oxidative dehydrogenation of propane to give propene catalyzed by TS-1, Ti-beta, Ti-MCM-41, Ti02-silicalite-l, or others was investigated by Schuster et al (259). TS-1 was the best catalyst, with a selectivity of 82% for propene at a propane conversion of 11% (Fig. 42). Sulfation of TS-1 by H2S04 prior to the reaction increased the conversion to 17%, with a selectivity of about 74%. Although conversion of propane was higher on Ti-beta and Ti-MCM-41, selectivity for propene was much lower C02 was the main product. Lewis acid sites were considered to be the major active sites (259). 

Significant progress has been achieved in the preceding few years in the study of titanosilicate molecular sieves, especially TS-1, TS-2, Ti-beta, and Ti-MCM-41. In the dehydrated, pristine state most of the Ti4+ ions on the surfaces of these materials are tetrahedrally coordinated, being present in either one of two structures a tetrapodal (Ti(OSi)4) or a tripodal (Ti(OSi)3OH) structure. The former predominates in TS-1, TS-2, and Ti-beta, and the latter is prominent in Ti-MCM-41. The Ti ions are coordinatively unsaturated and act as Lewis acid sites that coordinatively bind molecules such as H20, NH3, CH3CN, and H202. Upon interaction with H202 or H2 + 02, the Ti ions form titanium oxo species. Spectroscopic techniques have been used to identify side-bound hydroperoxo species such as Ti(02H) and superoxo structures such as Ti(02 ) on these catalysts. 

The catalyst is faujasite derived, with a high concentration of sufficiently strong Brpnsted acid sites and a minimized concentration of Lewis acid sites. It also contains a hydrogenation function. The process operates at temperatures of about 323-373 K with a molar isobutane/alkene ratio between 6 and 12 and a higher alkene space velocity than in the liquid acid-catalyzed processes. Preliminary details of the process concept have been described (240). 

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