The direct oxidative dehydrogenation of lactates with molecular oxygen is a “greener” alternative for producing pyruvates. Here we report a one-pot synthesis of mesoporous vanadia–titania (VTN), ...acting as highly efficient and recyclable catalysts for the conversion of ethyl lactate to ethyl pyruvate. These VTN materials feature high surface areas, large pore volumes, and high densities of isolated vanadium species, which can expose the active sites and facilitate the mass transport. In comparison to homogeneous vanadium complexes and VO x /TiO2 prepared by impregnation, the meso-VTN catalysts showed superior activity, selectivity, and stability in the aerobic oxidation of ethyl lactate to ethyl pyruvate. We also studied the effect of various vanadium precursors, which revealed that the vanadium-induced phase transition of meso-VTN from anatase to rutile depends strongly on the vanadium precursor. NH4VO3 was found to be the optimal vanadium precursor, forming more monomeric vanadium species. V4+ as the major valence state was incorporated into the lattice of the NH4VO3-derived VTN material, yielding more V4+–O–Ti bonds in the anatase-dominant structure. In situ DRIFT spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations show that V4+–O–Ti bonds are responsible for the dissociation of ethyl lactate over VTN catalysts and for further activation of the deprotonation of β-hydrogen. Molecular oxygen can replenish the surface oxygen to regenerate the V4+–O–Ti bonds.
Aqueous‐phase conversion of glyceraldehyde to lactic acid was investigated over Nb2O5, TiO2, ZrO2 and SnO2 in a fixed‐bed up‐flow reactor. Special attention was given to the catalysts acidity ...regarding the type, amount, strength and tolerance to water of surface acid sites. These sites were assessed by infrared spectroscopy of pyridine adsorbed on dehydrated and hydrated catalysts as well as by isopropanol decomposition. It was found that Nb2O5 and TiO2 have the highest fraction of water‐tolerant Lewis acid sites (40 and 47 %), while only 6 % was estimated for ZrO2. No relevant Lewis acidity was observed on SnO2, but it was noticed the presence of strong base sites. The transformation of glyceraldehyde into lactic acid proceeded via a cascade reaction in which glyceraldehyde is firstly dehydrated to pyruvaldehyde, followed by its rearrangement to lactic acid with the addition of a water molecule. The dehydration step occurs on Brønsted acid sites and/or on water‐tolerant Lewis acid sites. These latter sites also determine the selectivity to lactic acid. Strong base sites promote glyceraldehyde fragmentation leading to formaldehyde with high selectivity.
Next stop, Acid Sites: Acid‐catalyzed conversion of trioses in water relies on differences in the nature of the acid sites.
Understanding surface reactions of biomass-derived oxygenates on metal oxides is important for designing catalysts for valorization of biomass. This work elucidated the effect of different ...pretreatments on molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) to understand how surface reactivity is controlled by the surface oxidation state. The catalyst was pretreated in oxidative, inert, and reducing environments. The inert and reducing pretreatments created oxygen vacancies on the catalyst surface that acted as active sites for the adsorption of oxygenated molecules, with the reducing pretreatment yielding a higher density of these active sites. Exposing the catalyst to an alcoholic solvent such as methanol also led to a partial reduction similar to the inert pretreatment. After pretreatment, the catalyst was exposed to ethanol, acetaldehyde, and crotonaldehyde with subsequent characterization by diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Density functional theory (DFT) was also used to determine adsorption configurations and energies of ethanol, acetaldehyde, and crotonaldehyde. Reduced surfaces were shown to have a stronger affinity for carbonyls, leading to a higher activity for the aldol condensation of acetaldehyde and ethanol to C4 molecules. Catalysts pretreated in an oxidative environment were completely inactive toward chemisorption and reaction of acetaldehyde.
Cracking of propyl side chains from 4-propylphenol, a model compound for lignin monomers, is studied for a commercial ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst. The decline of 4-propylphenol conversion with time on ...stream can be delayed by co-feeding water. FTIR spectroscopy shows the formation of chemisorbed phenolates during reactions and significant amounts of phenolics are detected by GC-MS of the extract from the spent catalysts. Thus, chemisorbed phenolates are identified as the main reason for deactivation in the absence of water. Regardless of the amount of co-fed water, substituted monoaromatics and polyaromatic species are formed. Comprehensive characterization of the spent catalysts including Raman and solid-state 27Al NMR spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis points to a combination of deactivation processes. First, phenolates bind to Lewis acid sites within the zeolite framework and hinder diffusion unless they are hydrolyzed by water. In addition, light olefins created during the cracking process react to form a polyaromatic coke that deactivates the catalyst more permanently.
Titanium dioxide is the most studied photocatalytic material and has been reported to be active for a wide range of reactions, including the oxidation of hydrocarbons and the reduction of nitrogen. ...However, the molecular-scale interactions between the titania photocatalyst and dinitrogen are still debated, particularly in the presence of hydrocarbons. Here, we used several spectroscopic and computational techniques to identify interactions among nitrogen, methanol, and titania under illumination. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) allowed us to observe the formation of carbon radicals upon exposure to ultraviolet radiation. These carbon radicals are observed to transform into diazo- and nitrogen-centered radicals (e.g., CH x N2 • and CH x NH y •) during photoreaction in nitrogen environment. In situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy under the same conditions revealed C–N stretching on titania. Furthermore, density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that nitrogen adsorption and the thermodynamic barrier to photocatalytic nitrogen fixation are significantly more favorable in the presence of hydroxymethyl or surface carbon. These results provide compelling evidence that carbon radicals formed from the photooxidation of hydrocarbons interact with dinitrogen and suggest that the role of carbon-based “hole scavengers” and the inertness of nitrogen atmospheres should be reevaluated in the field of photocatalysis.
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•Reduced MoOx sites on supported catalysts are active for aldol condensation.•Pretreatment conditions do not influence steady state aldol condensation activity.•Lewis acid site ...strength and density are relevant properties.•Moderate/strong acid sites are needed to activate carbonyls for aldol condensation.•MoOx interacts strongly with Al2O3 support and weakly with SiO2 support.
The (retro-)aldol condensation reaction is an important chemical transformation in the upgrading of biomass-derived compounds into fuels and valuable specialty chemicals. In this study, we found that supported molybdenum oxide (MoOx) catalysts were active and selective for the aldol condensation of acetaldehyde to crotonaldehyde under steady-state reactor conditions. Through a combination of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet–visible (UV–VIS) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy of adsorbed pyridine, and steady-state reactor testing, we determined that highly dispersed MoOx has a strong interaction with a γ-Al2O3 support resulting in optimal catalyst performance at low weight loadings. In contrast, MoOx particles supported on SiO2 have a weaker interaction with the support, resulting in a monotonic relationship between Mo loading and aldol condensation activity. The Lewis acid site density and strength are important parameters for predicting aldol condensation activity across all samples. The concentration of weak acid sites had a poor correlation with aldol condensation activity, most likely because these sites are too weak to activate acetaldehyde for the reaction. Medium and strong acid sites both had good correlations to aldol condensation activity. Results from X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and acetaldehyde temperature programmed desorption (TPD) indicated that partially reduced MoOx was more active for aldol condensation, but pretreatment in reducing or oxidizing environments had no significant effect on steady-state catalytic activity. Characterization of spent catalyst samples through temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that catalysts with high densities of strong acid sites tended to form more carbonaceous deposits on the surface over the course of the reaction.
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•Furfural can be reduced to furfuryl alcohol using methanol as H-transfer and alkaline earth metal oxides catalysts.•The reduction occurs in the liquid-phase under mild conditions ...with high yield.•The specific activity of catalysts follows the rank SrO > CaO > MgO.•The activity rank is parallel to the basic strength rank of catalysts.•The stronger basicity leads to different mechanisms for methanol activation.
DRIFT characterization and DFT calculation were carried out to clarify the previously unexplored use of methanol as a H-transfer agent for the liquid-phase Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction of biomass-derived furfural using alkaline earth oxide catalysts (MgO, CaO, SrO). Methanol adsorption mechanism has been studied in detail and the energy correlated to the process has been theoretically calculated for each of the prepared catalyst to investigate the relative performances of the three basic oxides. Although, the higher-surface-area MgO displayed an exceptionally high activity for the H-transfer process at low temperatures, CaO and SrO were found to be the catalysts with the highest specific productivity per unit surface area and unit basic site. The different specific productivities of the three catalysts was explained by DRIFT with different adsorption mode selectivities (3 different modes for MgO versus only 1 for CaO and SrO, with the production of only the active methoxide), which may indicate a different methanol activation with regard to the H-transfer toward the carbonyl moiety of FAL. Furthermore, higher SrO than CaO productivity can be explained by the different basicity, which in turn leads to differences in the main methanol activation pathways. DFT calculations make it possible to gain further insight into the role of the basic strength on methanol activation and H-transfer reaction suggesting the increased ability of activating the alcohol via formation of the methoxide ion being the key factor in modulating the catalyst activity rather than the polarization of the aldehydic carbonyl group due to the coordination onto the M3C site.
The (retro-)aldol condensation reaction is an important chemical transformation in the upgrading of biomass-derived compounds into fuels and valuable specialty chemicals. In this study, we found that ...supported molybdenum oxide (MoOx) catalysts were active and selective for the aldol condensation of acetaldehyde to crotonaldehyde under steady-state reactor conditions. Through a combination of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet–visible (UV–VIS) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy of adsorbed pyridine, and steady-state reactor testing, we determined that highly dispersed MoOx has a strong interaction with a γ-Al2O3 support resulting in optimal catalyst performance at low weight loadings. In contrast, MoOx particles supported on SiO2 have a weaker interaction with the support, resulting in a monotonic relationship between Mo loading and aldol condensation activity. The Lewis acid site density and strength are important parameters for predicting aldol condensation activity across all samples. The concentration of weak acid sites had a poor correlation with aldol condensation activity, most likely because these sites are too weak to activate acetaldehyde for the reaction. Medium and strong acid sites both had good correlations to aldol condensation activity. Results from X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and acetaldehyde temperature programmed desorption (TPD) indicated that partially reduced MoOx was more active for aldol condensation, but pretreatment in reducing or oxidizing environments had no significant effect on steady-state catalytic activity. Finally, characterization of spent catalyst samples through temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that catalysts with high densities of strong acid sites tended to form more carbonaceous deposits on the surface over the course of the reaction.
Direct air capture (DAC) processes for extraction of CO2 from ambient air are unique among chemical processes in that they operate outdoors with minimal feed pretreatments. Here, the impact of ...humidity on the oxidative degradation of a prototypical solid supported amine sorbent, poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) supported on Al2O3, is explored in detail. By combining CO2 adsorption measurements, oxidative degradation rates, elemental analyses, solid‐state NMR and in situ IR spectroscopic analysis in conjunction with 18O labeling of water, a comprehensive picture of sorbent oxidation is achieved under accelerated conditions. We demonstrated that the presence of water vapor can play an important role in accelerating the degradation reactions. From the study we inferred the identity and kinetics of formation of the major oxidative products, and the role(s) of humidity. Our data are consistent with a radical mediated autooxidative degradation mechanism.
Processes for direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 uniquely operate outdoors in different weather conditions. The oxidative stability of amine‐based sorbents is a critical parameter with economic and environmental impacts on DAC processes. Here we elucidate the impact of ubiquitous atmospheric water vapor on the oxidative stability of DAC sorbents, providing insights into the design of robust sorbents for the practical deployment of DAC technology.
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