Support, in catalytic hydrogenation

There are several sources of potential danger in catalytic hydrogenations these are failure of equipment because of excessive pressures, solvent fires, explosions and fires from mixtures of hydrogen in air, and, with finely divided carbon supports, dust explosions. None of these should cause concern, for all may be avoided easily. 

Pd metals immobilized on SBA-15 and NaY were applied as catalysts in the synthesis of amino alcohol. These catalysts afford a high level of enantioselectivity in the asymmetric hydrogenation of a-keto alcohol to corresponding amino alcohol. The large peilladium metal exhibited higher catalytic activity and enantioselectivity than well dispersed one over porous supports in the hydrogenation. 

In a somewhat different approach, supported-aqueous-phase-catalysts (SAPC, see Chapter 5, Section 5.2.5 of this book) have been combined with supercritical CO2 in catalytic hydrogenation [55], Ruthenium was supported on silica and combined with the ligand TPPTS in water, after which a scC02/H2 phase was applied together with the substrate. Better levels of conversion were obtained using scC02 than the equivalent system with toluene for the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde. 

The metal may be reduced to its zerovalent state and form small metallic particles on the support. These metal particles may take part in the reaction, especially in catalytic hydrogenation. 

The hydrogenation of benzene over supported Pd-Au catalysts initially exhibits a rise in activity as gold is added to the catalyst, but further addition brings about a pronounced activity decrease (772). The same authors find a marked increase in catalytic hydrogenation activity for Pd-Au alloy microspheres containing up to 60 at.% gold as compared with that measured for palladium. 

The first variable in catalytic hydrogenation is the catalyst. The most commonly used heterogeneous catalysts are platinum, palladium, nickel, rhodium, nickel, and ruthenium. Rylander gave references for the preparation of the most common catalysts, shown in Table 4.14.31 In some cases, salts of transition metals are used rather than the metal itself although the pure metal adsorbed on a support (see above) is also commonly used. Hudlicky presented an order of relative reactivity with propene for groups 8-10 (VIII) transition metal catalysts,341 based on the work of Mann and Lien.342 xhe order given is ... 

Murray Raney was not a chemist, but he became interested in catalytic hydrogenation after he had designed a cottonseed oil hydrogenation unit for the Lookout Oil and Refining Co. For this process supported nickel catalysts, made... 

Reduction of the aromatic nuclei contained in catalytic C-9 resins has also been accomplished in the molten state (66). Continuous downward concurrent feeding of molten resin (120°C softening point) and hydrogen to a fixed bed of an alumina supported platinum—mthenium (1.75% Pt—0.25% Ru) catalyst has been shown to reduce approximately 100% of the aromatic nuclei present in the resin. The temperature and pressure required for this process are 295—300°C and 9.8 MPa (lOO kg/cni2), respectively. The extent of hydrogenation was monitored by the percent reduction in the uv absorbance at 274.5 nm. 

In catalytic toluene hydrodealkylation, toluene is mixed with a hydrogen stream and passed through a vessel packed with a catalyst, usually supported chromium or molybdenum oxides, platinum or platinum oxides, on siHca or alumina (50). The operating temperatures range from 500—595°C... 

Cost. The catalytically active component(s) in many supported catalysts are expensive metals. By using a catalyst in which the active component is but a very small fraction of the weight of the total catalyst, lower costs can be achieved. As an example, hydrogenation of an aromatic nucleus requires the use of rhenium, rhodium, or mthenium. This can be accomplished with as fittie as 0.5 wt % of the metal finely dispersed on alumina or activated carbon. Furthermore, it is almost always easier to recover the metal from a spent supported catalyst bed than to attempt to separate a finely divided metal from a liquid product stream. If recovery is efficient, the actual cost of the catalyst is the time value of the cost of the metal less processing expenses, assuming a nondeclining market value for the metal. Precious metals used in catalytic processes are often leased. 

The low yields of 6,6 -disubstituted-2,2 -bipyridincs recorded in Table I are probably the result of steric retardation of the adsorption of 2-substituted pyridines. This view is supported by the observation that 2-methylpyridine is a much weaker poison for catalytic hydrogenations than pyridine. On the other hand, the quinolines so far examined (Table II) are more reactive but with these compounds the steric effect of the fused benzene ring could be partly compensated by the additional stabilization of the adsorbed species, since the loss of resonance energy accompanying the localization of one 71-electron would be smaller in a quinoline than in a pyridine derivative. 

The literature on catalytic hydrogenation is very extensive, and it is tempting to think that after all this effort there must now exist some sort of cosmic concept that would allow one to select an appropriate catalyst from fundamentals or from detailed knowledge of catalyst functioning. For the synthetic chemist, this approach to catalyst selection bears little fruit. A more reliable, quick, and useful approach to catalyst selection is to treat the catalyst simply as if it were an organic reagent showing characteristic properties in its catalytic behavior toward each functionality. For this purpose, the catalyst is considered to be only the primary catalytic metal present. Support and... 

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