Selective oxidation kinetics

Ethylene is selectively oxidized to ethylene oxide using a silver-based catalyst in a fixed-bed reactor. Ethylene and oxygen are supplied from the gas phase and ethylene oxide is removed by it. The catalyst is stationary. Undesired, kinetically determined by-products include carbon monoxide and water. Ideally, a pure reactant is converted to one product with no by-products. 

Sigman et al. have optimized their system too [45]. A study of different solvents showed that the best solvent was f-BuOH instead of 1,2-dichloroethane, which increased the conversion and the ee. To ensure that the best conditions were selected, several other reaction variables were evaluated. Reducing the catalyst loading to 2.5 mol % led to a slower conversion, and varying temperature from 50 °C to 70 °C had little effect on the selectivity factor s. Overall, the optimal conditions for this oxidative kinetic resolution were 5 mol % of Pd[(-)-sparteine]Cl2, 20 mol % of (-)-sparteine, 0.25 M alcohol in f-BuOH, molecular sieves (3 A) at 65 °C under a balloon pressure of O2. 

It is noteworthy that, as early as 1929, Shibata and Tsuchida reported a kinetic resolution of rac-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine by selective oxidation of one enantiomer using a chiral cobalt complex [Co(en)3NH3Cl]Br2 as a catalyst [46,47]. Figure 12 shows a highly enantioselective addition of diisopropy-Izinc to 2-(ferf-butylethynyl)pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde via an autocatalytic process in the presence of a chiral octahedral cobalt complex with ethylenedi-... 

These are oxidised by both Fe(III) and Cu(II) octanoates (denoted Oct) in nonpolar solvents at moderate temperatures . 80-90 % yields of the corresponding disulphide are obtained with Fe(III) and this oxidant was selected for kinetic study, the pattern of products with Cu(II) being more complex. The radical nature of the reaction was confirmed by trapping of the thiyi radicals with added olefins. Simple second-order kinetics were observed, for example, with l-dodecane thiol oxidation by Fe(Oct)3 in xylene at 55 °C (fcj = 0.24 l.mole . sec ). Reaction proceeds much more rapidly in more polar solvents such as dimethylformamide. The course of the oxidation is almost certainly... 

The Holy Grail of catalysis has been to identify what Taylor described as the active site that is, that ensemble of atoms which is responsible for the surface reactions involved in catalytic turnover. With the advent of atomically resolving techniques such as scanning tunnelling microscopy it is now possible to identify reaction centres on planar surfaces. This gives a greater insight also into reaction kinetics and mechanisms in catalysis. In this paper two examples of such work are described, namely CO oxidation on a Rh(llO) crystal and methanol selective oxidation to formaldehyde on Cu(llO). 

Axially chiral Pd-NHC complexes reported by Shi and co-workers [26-28] have shown high selectivity in the oxidative kinetic resolution of alcohols without the need of addition of a chiral base. Enantiomeric excesses of up to 99% were obtained (Scheme 10.7). 

The lower total activity for Rh electrodes may be partly due to increased CO poisoning and slower CO electro-oxidation kinetics compared with Pt electrodes, as demonstrated by the number of voltammetric cycles required to oxidize a saturated CO adlayer from Rh electrodes (see Section 6.2.2) [Housmans et al., 2004]. In addition, it is argued that the barrier to dehydrogenation is higher on Rh than on Pt, leading to a lower overall reaction rate [de Souza et al., 2002]. These effects may also explain the lower product selectivity towards acetaldehyde and acetic acid, which require the dehydrogenation of weakly adsorbed species. 

It is tempting to associate directly the absence of ethylene oxide over catalysts with more than 40% Pd with the appearance of holes in the d-band. It could be assumed that ethylene is chemisorbed directly on Pd-rich alloys and rapidly decomposed, whereas on Ag-rich alloys ethylene is only adsorbed on top of an oxygen-covered surface leading to selective oxidation. However, the general conclusion from earlier kinetic studies (143) is that the rate-determining step over pure palladium also involves the latter mode of ethylene chemisorption. 

In pulp and paper processing, anthraquinone (AQ) accelerates the delignification of wood and improves liquor selectivity. The kinetics of the liquid-phase oxidation of anthracene (AN) to AQ with NO2 in acetic acid as solvent has been studied by Rodriguez and Tijero (1989) in a semibatch reactor (batch with respect to the liquid phase), under conditions such that the kinetics of the overall gas-liquid process is controlled by the rate of the liquid-phase reaction. This reaction proceeds through the formation of the intermediate compound anthrone (ANT) ... 

The multi-functionality of metal oxides1,13 is one of the key aspects which allow realizing selectively on metal oxide catalysts complex multi-step transformations, such as w-butane or n-pentane selective oxidation.14,15 This multi-functionality of metal oxides is also the key aspect to implement a new sustainable industrial chemical production.16 The challenge to realize complex multi-step reactions over solid catalysts and ideally achieve 100% selectivity requires an understanding of the surface micro-kinetic and the relationship with the multi-functionality of the catalytic surface.17 However, the control of the catalyst multi-functionality requires the ability also to control their nano-architecture, e.g. the spatial arrangement of the active sites around the first centre of chemisorption of the incoming molecule.1... 

Many wastewater flows in industry can not be treated by standard aerobic or anaerobic treatment methods due to the presence of relatively low concentration of toxic pollutants. Ozone can be used as a pretreatment step for the selective oxidation of these toxic pollutants. Due to the high costs of ozone it is important to minimise the loss of ozone due to reaction of ozone with non-toxic easily biodegradable compounds, ozone decay and discharge of ozone with the effluent from the ozone reactor. By means of a mathematical model, set up for a plug flow reactor and a continuos flow stirred tank reactor, it is possible to calculate more quantitatively the efficiency of the ozone use, independent of reaction kinetics, mass transfer rates of ozone and reactor type. The model predicts that the oxidation process is most efficiently realised by application of a plug flow reactor instead of a continuous flow stirred tank reactor. 

Complex (1) is a catalyst for selective oxidation of benzylic, allylic alcohols to aldehydes, and secondary alcohols to ketones using r-butyl hydroperoxide. Primary aliphatic alcohol oxidation failed. The use of cumyl hydroperoxide as radical probe discounted the involvement of i-BuO /t-BuOO. Hammett studies p = -0.47) and kinetic isotope effects kn/ku = 4.8) have been interpreted as suggesting an Ru—OO—Bu-i intermediate oxidant. 

The empirical observation that (—)-sparteine 55 is necessary for catalysis implicates a base-promoted pathway in the mechanism. In the first step, a palladium alk-oxide is formed after alcohol binding, followed by p-hydride elimination of the alkoxide to yield a ketone product. On the basis of a kinetic study of the enantio-selective oxidation of 1-phenylethanol, it was revealed that (—)-sparteine plays a dual role in the oxidative kinetic resolution of alcohols, as a ligand on palladium and an exogeneous base " ... 

Oxidative kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols mediated with a catalytic amount of optically active binaphthyl-type iV-oxyl has been performed with high selectivity". Also, it has mediated oxidative asymmetric desymmetrization of primary alcohols with good selectivity (equation 25)". ... 

Kinetics There have been few comprehensive studies of the kinetics of selective oxidation reactions (31,32). Kinetic expressions are usually of the power-rate law type and are applicable within limited experimental ranges. Often at high temperature the rate expression is nearly first order in the hydrocarbon reactant, close to zero order in oxygen, and of low positive order in water vapor. Many times a Mars-van Krevelen redox type of mechanism is assumed to operate. 

In this paper selectivity in partial oxidation reactions is related to the manner in which hydrocarbon intermediates (R) are bound to surface metal centers on oxides. When the bonding is through oxygen atoms (M-O-R) selective oxidation products are favored, and when the bonding is directly between metal and hydrocarbon (M-R), total oxidation is preferred. Results are presented for two redox systems ethane oxidation on supported vanadium oxide and propylene oxidation on supported molybdenum oxide. The catalysts and adsorbates are stuped by laser Raman spectroscopy, reaction kinetics, and temperature-programmed reaction. Thermochemical calculations confirm that the M-R intermediates are more stable than the M-O-R intermediates. The longer surface residence time of the M-R complexes, coupled to their lack of ready decomposition pathways, is responsible for their total oxidation. 

The gas-phase selective oxidation of o-xylene to phthalic anhydride is performed industrially over vanadia-titania-based catalysts ("7-5). The process operates in the temperature range 620-670 K with 60-70 g/Nm of xylene in air and 0.15 to 0.6 sec. contact times. It allows near 80 % yield in phthalic anhydride. The main by-products are maleic anhydride, that is recovered with yields near 4 %, and carbon oxides. Minor by-products are o-tolualdehyde, o-toluic acid, phthalide, benzoic acid, toluene, benzene, citraconic anhydride. The kinetics and the mechanism of this reaction have been theobjectof a number of studies ( 2-7). Reaction schemes have been proposed for the selective pathways, but much less is known about by-product formation. 

The oxidation of propene to acrolein has been one of the most studied selective oxidation reaction. The catalysts used are usually pure bismuth molybdates owing to the fact that these phases are present in industrial catalysts and that they exhibit rather good catalytic properties (1). However the industrial catalysts also contain bivalent cation molybdates like cobalt, iron and nickel molybdates, the presence of which improves both the activity and the selectivity of the catdysts (2,3). This improvement of performances for a mixture of phases with respect to each phase component, designated synergy effect, has recently been attributed to a support effect of the bivalent cation molybdate on the bismuth molybdate (4) or to a synergy effect due to remote control (5) or to more or less strong interaction between phases (6). However, this was proposed only in view of kinetic data obtained on a prepared supported catalyst. 

The viability of one particular use of a membrane reactor for partial oxidation reactions has been studied through mathematical modeling. The partial oxidation of methane has been used as a model selective oxidation reaction, where the intermediate product is much more reactive than the reactant. Kinetic data for V205/Si02 catalysts for methane partial oxidation are available in the literature and have been used in the modeling. Values have been selected for the other key parameters which appear in the dimensionless form of the reactor design equations based upon the physical properties of commercially available membrane materials. This parametric study has identified which parameters are most important, and what the values of these parameters must be to realize a performance enhancement over a plug-flow reactor. 

Even more interesting is the oxidative kinetic resolution of alcohols under aerobic conditions. The system Pd(lI)/sparteine/02 was reported to convert a racemic alcohol with high selectivity into the ketone and the alcohol [97-99]. This has also been shown to work with palladium carbene complexes (Scheme 16). 

The kinetics of the electrochemical oxidation of ammonia on platinum to dinitrogen in basic electrolytes has been extensively studied. In the widely supported mechanism originally suggested by Gerischer and Mauerer[ll], the active intermediate in the selective oxidation to N2 is a partly dehydrogenated ammonia adsorbate, NH2 ads or NHaatomic nitrogen adsorbate N ag, which is apparently formed at more positive potentials, is inactive toward N2 production at room temperature. Generally, only platinum and iridium electrodes exhibit steady-state N2 production at potentials at which no sur-... 

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