RESTRICTED TRANSITION STATE

A different kind of shape selectivity is restricted transition state shape selectivity. It is related not to transport restrictions but instead to size restrictions of the catalyst pores, which hinder the fonnation of transition states that are too large to fit thus reactions proceeding tiirough smaller transition states are favoured. The catalytic activities for the cracking of hexanes to give smaller hydrocarbons, measured as first-order rate constants at 811 K and atmospheric pressure, were found to be the following for the reactions catalysed by crystallites of HZSM-5 14 n-... 

Catalytic Properties. In zeoHtes, catalysis takes place preferentially within the intracrystaUine voids. Catalytic reactions are affected by aperture size and type of channel system, through which reactants and products must diffuse. Modification techniques include ion exchange, variation of Si/A1 ratio, hydrothermal dealumination or stabilization, which produces Lewis acidity, introduction of acidic groups such as bridging Si(OH)Al, which impart Briimsted acidity, and introducing dispersed metal phases such as noble metals. In addition, the zeoHte framework stmcture determines shape-selective effects. Several types have been demonstrated including reactant selectivity, product selectivity, and restricted transition-state selectivity (28). Nonshape-selective surface activity is observed on very small crystals, and it may be desirable to poison these sites selectively, eg, with bulky heterocycHc compounds unable to penetrate the channel apertures, or by surface sdation. 

Mass transport selectivity is Ulustrated by a process for disproportionation of toluene catalyzed by HZSM-5 (86). The desired product is -xylene the other isomers are less valuable. The ortho and meta isomers are bulkier than the para isomer and diffuse less readily in the zeoHte pores. This transport restriction favors their conversion to the desired product in the catalyst pores the desired para isomer is formed in excess of the equUibrium concentration. Xylene isomerization is another reaction catalyzed by HZSM-5, and the catalyst is preferred because of restricted transition state selectivity (86). An undesired side reaction, the xylene disproportionation to give toluene and trimethylbenzenes, is suppressed because it is bimolecular and the bulky transition state caimot readily form. 

Intermediate pore zeolites typified by ZSM-5 (1) show unique shape-selectivities. This has led to the development and commercial use of several novel processes in the petroleum and petrochemical industry (2-4). This paper describes the selectivity characteristics of two different aromatics conversion processes Xylene Isomerization and Selective Toluene Disproportionation (STDP). In these two reactions, two different principles (5,j6) are responsible for their high selectivity a restricted transition state in the first, and mass transfer limitation in the second. 

It is often difficult to distinguish restricted transition state shape selectivity from product shape selectivity due to the lack of clear experimental evidence that the pore geometry and local spatial environment are actually influencing the reaction rate [63]. The following test reactions are more likely be impacted by transition state selectivity effects. 

Dewaxing is the final example of a reaction illustrated here with possibly multiple restricted transition state shape selectivity effects. Bifunctional zeolitic catalysts... 

Restricted transition-state selectivity occurs when certain reactions are pre-... 

Restricted transition state selectivity Figure 1 Mechanisms of shape-selective catalysis. 

Although a clear distinction among these mechanisms is difficult, there is an important difference between product selectivity and restricted transition-state selectivity mechanisms. In the former mechanism, the product composition inside the pores should either be close to equilibrium, or the selectivity for the products inside the pores should be lower than that for bulk products. However, the selectivity for the narrowest isomer of the encapsulated products should be as high as that of bulk products in the latter mechanism. 

The results described above suggest that the methylation of naphthalene over MFI- metallosilicates occurs inside crystalline pores by a restricted transition-state mechanism, not with unordered sites at or near external sites. Weaker acid sites preferentially form 2,6-DMN and favor a decease in coke formation. 

We suggest that the selectivity for the isopropylation of naphthalene is explained by restricted transition-state mechanism,68 However, Kikuchi and his co-workers proposed that the selectivity is due to a product selectivity mech-... 

These results, obtained with chiral substrates, agree with the general sense of enantioselective hydrogenation of prochiral 3-oxo carboxylic esters. Obviously, the chirality of the BINAP ligand controls the facial selectivity at the carbonyl function, whereas cyclic constraints determine the relative reactivities of the enantiomeric substrates. Sterically restricted transition states that lead to the major stereoisomers are shown in Scheme 66. Overall, one of four possible diastereomeric transition states is selected to afford high stereoselectivity by dynamic kinetic resolution that involves in situ racemization of the substrates. 

Both H2O2 and hydroperoxides are industrially important oxidants. An accurate evaluation of advantages and disadvantages requires an accurate analysis of every specific case, in view of the different technical problems and economic constraints that the use of one or the other entails. The reactivity of H202 is so high that it can easily oxidize many primary reaction products, and these reactions become more likely as the reaction temperature is increased. Some of these reactions are influenced by reactant shape selectivity and by restricted transition-state shape selectivity. 

Pentanol reacts much faster than 3-pentanol. The ratio of reactivities calculated from data at 50% H202 conversion is 12 1. Because in term of diffusion rates and chemical behavior these two alcohols are similar to each other, the results are explained by restricted transition-state selectivity, a steric influence of the catalyst pores. Cyclohexanol is oxidized at a very low rate, and this is best... 

It is reasonable to consider that in titanium silicate-catalyzed reactions the oxidizing species also acts as an electrophile. The different order of reactivity of the C4 olefins in the presence of titanium silicates relative to that observed with soluble catalysts must therefore arise from the fact that alkyl substitution at the double bond is responsible not only for inductive effects, but also for increases in the size and the steric requirements of the molecules. Since the rates of diffusion of the different butenes cannot be the cause of the different reaction rates, a restricted transition-state selectivity must be operating. 

Evidence of variables that influence the relative rates of reaction of olefins and alcohols was obtained from experiments with compounds that have both olefinic and alcoholic functions and by the competitive oxidation of mixtures of olefins and alcohols. The data of Table VI show that when the double bond has no substituents, as in allyl alcohol, but-3-en-l-ol, or 2-methylbut-3-en-l-ol, only the epoxide is formed but when the double bond has substituents, the epoxida-tion rate is decreased and ketone and aldehyde products from the oxidation of the OH group are formed. This effect is more pronounced with a greater degree of substitution. Since the double bond and the OH group are part of the same molecule, the difference must arise from the different abilities of the reactants to coordinate and react at the titanium center restricted transition-state shape selectivity is a possibility. The terminal double bond, sterically less hindered, interacts strongly with titanium, preventing coordination of the competing OH... 

Reactant shape selectivity effects related to the dimensions of reactant molecules and catalyst pores, including restricted transition-state shape-selectivity effects as well as chemical and stereochemical selectivity. 

Transition-state selectivity is sometimes difficult to distinguish from product shape selectivity. A recent study by Kim et al. (8) shows that the high para-selectivity for the alkylation of ethylbenzene with ethanol in metallosilicates (MeZSM-5) is not due to product selectivity alone. They conclude that the primary product of the alkylation on ZSM-5 type metallosilicates is p-diethylbenzene which isomerizes further inside the cavity of ZSM-5 to other isomers. As the acid sites of zeolites becomes weaker (achieved by substituting different metals into the framework of the zeolite), the isomerization of the primarily produced p-isomer is suppressed. Although Kim et al. attribute this suppression of the isomerization activity to restricted transition-state selectivity, it is more likely that this suppression is due to the decrease in acid strength. 

In general the selectivity in toluene methylation found with MFI molecular sieve catalysts is proposed to be caused either by a restricted transition state to form m- and o-xylene [10,11,12] and/or diffusional constraints of the bulkier isomers, o- and m-xylene, in the pores of zeolite ZSM5 [3,4], Recent results on the methylation of toluene based on in situ analysis of the working catalyst showed that all three isomers were primary products in toluene methylation [13]. The high p-selectivity was explained to be due to transport constraints of the bulkier... 

For these simulations, the primary isomer distribution is chosen according to the thermodynamic equilibrium (sec Table 6). Such a situation would be encountered in practice when neither the reaction mechanism kineti-cally favors a particular isomer nor restricted transition state shape-selectivity effects occur. The disproportionation reaction is assumed to be unaffected by diffusion (i.e. y < 0.01). The effective diffusivities of the ortho and meta isomers are fixed, and assumed to be equal, but by a factor of Ro smaller than the effective diffusivity of the para isomer. 

Rollmann and Walsh (266) have recently shown that for a wide variety of zeolites there is a good correlation between shape-selective behavior, as measured by the relative rates of conversion of n-hexane and 3-methyl-pentane, and the rate of coke formation (see Fig. 24). This correlation was considered to provide good evidence that intracrystalline coking is itself a shape-selective reaction. Thus, the rather constrained ZSM-5 pore structure exhibits high shape selectivity, probably via a restricted transition-state mechanism (242b), and therefore has a low rate of coke formation. Zeolite composition and crystal size, although influencing coke formation, were found to be of secondary importance. This type of information is clearly... 

A very high stereoselectivity was observed in the reduction of 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone to the m-alcohol (> 95%), which is the industrially relevant product. The observed high selectivity to the thermodynamically unfavorable cis-alcohol was explained by a restricted transition-state for the formation of the trans-alcohol within the pores of the zeolites (Scheme 5). This reaction was found not only to be catalysed by Al-Beta, van der Waal et al. reported the catalytic activity of aluminum-free zeolite titanium beta (Ti-Beta) in the same reaction.74 Again, a very high selectivity to the cis-alcohol was observed indicating similar steric restrictions on the mechanism. Kinetically restricted product distributions were also reported for the 2-,3- and 4-methylcyclohexanone the cis, trans- and ds-isomers being the major products, respectively. In this case the tetrahedrally coordinated Ti-atom was assumed to behave as the Lewis acid metal center. Recent quantum-chemical calculations on zeolite TS-1 and Ti-Beta confirm the higher Lewis acidic nature of the latter one.75... 

H. van Bekkum et al. (72) studied a number of catalysts in the Fischer synthesis starting from l-phenyl-2-butanone 40 (with R, = Ph, R2 = CH3) and phenylhydrazine. The isomeric products are the bulky 2-ethyl-3-phenylindole 45 (with R, = Ph, R2 = CH3) and the linear 2-benzyl-3-methylindole 46 (with R, = Ph, R2 = CH3). Catalysis of the inolization of 40 by soluble as well as solid (e.g. Amberlyst 15) catalysts typically yielded a mixture of the two isomers in a bulky/linear ratio of about 75/25. Zeolite BEA reverses this bulky/linear ratio giving 75% of the linear isomer 46, a result interpreted in terms of restricted transition-state selectivity. Although in zeolite BEA the intraporous formation of 45 is largely suppressed, it is in fact probably not completely inhibited. 

The selective Fischer synthesis of 2-benzyl-3-methylindole from l-phenyl-2-butanone and phenylhydrazine and catalyzed by zeolite BEA can be considered as an interesting example of restricted transition state selectivity. 

I he recent literature related to selective skeletal isomerization of -butenes catalyzed by medium-pore zeolites and Me-aluminophosphates is reviewed. In the presence of medium-pore molecular sieve catalysts, o-butenes are selectively transformed into isobutylene via a monomolecular mechanism. This is an example of restricted transition state shape selectivity, whereby the space available around the acidic site is restricted, constraining the reaction to proceed mainly through a monomolecular mechanism. Coking of (he ciitalysl that leads to poisoning of (he acidic sites located on the external surfaces and to a decrease in the space around the acidic sites located in the micropores renders the catalyst more selective. 

The previous results underline the importance of shape selectivity effects even for the transformation of small olefins such as butene. The results are in agreement with the early, related work by Haag et al. 59). who investigated cracking of olefins and paraffins catalyzed by the zeolite HZSM-5 and distinguished between restricted transition state shape selectivity and mass transport shape selectivity, ft is clear that the effects discussed here are best described in terms of restricted transition state shape selectivity. 

It has been shown by using a methodology combining molecular dynamics and an energy minimization technique 60) that in the PER pores (cavities and channels), the formation of Cti olefin intermediates is inhibited. These theoretical results agree well with the experimental indications of restricted transition state shape selectivity. Indeed, for materials such as zeolites and MeAPOs, most of the sites are expected to be located inside the micro-pores. Molecular sieves with large mesopores and/or large external surface... 

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