Probes polyfunctional

Guliants, V. and Holmes, S. (2001). Probing Polyfunctional Nature of Vanadyl Pyrophosphate Catalysts Oxidation of 16 C-4 Molecules, J. Mol. Catal. A Chem., 175, pp. 227-239. Misono, M. and Nojiri, N. (1990). Recent Progress in Catalytic Technology in Japan, Appl Catal. A Geru, 64, pp. 1-30. 

The reaction pathway (Table 1) shows the single steps and the polyfunctional nature of active sites that are required for the oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride [71-74]. The polyfunctional nature of the VPO catalysts has been further demonstrated by the oxidation of probe molecules (Table 2) in accordance with the steps proposed for n-butane oxidation to maleic anhydride [13,75, 76, 77]. The high yield of maleic anhydride observed in the oxidation of these molecules provided support for the reaction steps shown in Table 1. 

Surface functionalities should be probed with suitable mono- or polyfunctional organometallic complexes, opening the possibility of using spectroscopic tools otherwise not applicable to the inorganic support. 

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