Transition-metal sulfide catalysts environment

Crystal structure plays a secondary role in catalysis by the Transition Metal Sulfides. As the periodic trends for HDS of the binary sulfides shows the dominant effect is which transition metal is present in the reaction, this transition metal takes on the structure and stoichiometry of the phase which is most stable in the sulfur containing catalytic environment. The unsupported promoted catalyst systems can be grouped into "synergic" pairs of sulfides. Because these pairs are related to the basic periodic trends of the binary Transition Metal Sulfides through average heats of formation. 

The carbides of the early transition metals exhibit chemical and catalytic properties that in many aspects are very similar to those of expensive noble metals [1], Typically, early transition metals are very reactive elements that bond adsorbates too strongly to be useful as catalysts. These systems are not stable under a reactive chemical environment and exhibit a tendency to form compounds (oxides, nitrides, sulfides, carbides, phosphides). The inclusion of C into the lattice of an early transition metal produces a substantial gain in stability [2]. Furthermore, in a metal carbide, the carbon atoms moderate the chemical reactivity through ensemble and ligand effects [1-3]. On one hand, the presence of the carbon atoms usually limits the number of metal atoms that can be exposed in a surface of a metal carbide (ensemble effect). On the other hand, the formation of metal-carbon bonds modifies the electronic properties of the metal (decrease in its density of states near the Fermi level metal—>carbon charge transfer) [1-3], making it less chemically active... 

Surface reconstruction is inherent to surface oxidation and sulfidation chemistry. In involves essentially surface corrosion and surface compound formation phenomena. The state of a surface can change from a metallic state to that of a solid oxide, sulfide, carbide or nitride depending upon the reaction environment. The surface of the epoxidation catalyst, discussed earlier, in the absence of Cl or Cs, for example, has a composition similar to AgO in the oxidizing reaction environment of the epoxidation system. The oxidation of CO over Ru can readily lead to the formation of surface RUO2 (see Chapter 5). In desulfurization reactions the transition-metal surface is converted to a sulfide form. The reactivity of the surface in these systems begins to look chemically more similar to that of coordination complexes. This we will illustrate in Chapter 5 for the C0S/M0S2 system. 

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