Highlights from Faraday Discussion: Designing New Heterogeneous Catalysts, London, UK, April 2016

The Faraday Discussion on the design of new heterogeneous catalysts took place from 4–6 April 2016 in London, United Kingdom.</p

Probing chemistry and kinetics of reactions in heterogeneous catalysts

Using benzene hydrogenation over Pt/SiO2 as an industrially-relevant example, we show that state-of-the-art neutron total scattering methods spanning a wide Q-range now permit relevant time-resolved catalytic chemistry to be probed directly in situ within the pore of the catalyst. The method gives access to the reaction rates on both nanometric and atomic length scales, whilst simultaneously providing an atomistic structural viewpoint on the reaction mechanism itself.</p

Influence of pretreatment on surface interaction between Cu and anatase-TiO2 in the simultaneous photoremediation of nitrate and oxalic acid

This research work was partly supported by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) of Nigeria. We are grateful to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi-Nigeria for the award of fellowship to Haruna Adamu.Peer reviewedPostprin

Temperature and Pressure Induced Structural Changes of Cobalt (II) in a Phosphonium Based Ionic Liquid

The temperature- and pressure-induced paramagnetic switching of cobalt(II) complex in a binary mixture of phosphoniumbased ionic liquid [P6,6,6,14]SCN and [Co(NCS)2] is reported. This arises from a structural change in the coordination of the cobalt(II) center from tetrahedral [Co(NCS)4]2− to octahedral [Co(NCS)6]4− when mobile thiocyanate ions are added. These properties are reflected in the abrupt change of the conductivity behavior of the magnetic ionic liquid. Therefore, as demonstrated herein, the reversible switching in coordination of cobalt from tetrahedral to octahedral can be easily monitored at ambient as well as elevated pressure by tracking the dc-conductivity changes

Synthesis of a novel redox material udcat-3: an efficient and versatile catalyst for selective oxidation, hydroxylation and hydrogenation reactions

A novel, highly efficient and versatile redox catalyst, named UDCaT-3 (the acronym derived from University Department of Chemical Technology series catalyst # 3) was developed by synthesizing manganese-vanadium ternary oxide within the framework of manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieve. This new composite material was characterized by elemental, X-ray diffraction, volumetric (N2 adsorption-desorption) and transmission electron microscopic analyses as well as by electron spin resonance and framework infrared spectroscopy. In order to study its activity and selectivity, UDCaT-3 was used in the oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes, hydroxylation of phenol and acetophenone; and hydrogenation of p-nitroanisole to p-anisidine. It exhibited excellent activity and high selectivity towards the desired products. The active sites in UDCaT-3 are the lattice oxygens which get depleted during reaction followed by regeneration with the help of the oxidizing agent. UDCaT-3 is a stable, reusable and versatile catalyst

Novelties of synthesis of acetoveratrone using heteropoly acid supported on hexagonal mesoporous silica

Friedel–Crafts acylations are often used for synthesis of important aromatic ketones such as acetoveratrone, which is the intermediate for synthesis of papavarine alkaloids. This is produced by conventional homogeneous catalysts and HY and Hβ zeolites which are known to deactivate. The current study reports the development of environmentally benign route for acetoveratrone synthesis. Twenty percent dodecatungstophosphoric acid supported on hexagonal mesoporous silica (DTP/HMS) was synthesized. This catalyst was found to be very active and also stable without any deactivation. The catalyst was characterised for its ultrastructural features by using X-ray diffraction, SEM, framework IR and nitrogen sorption techniques. Based on the experimental data a suitable mathematical model is proposed to describe the reaction kinetics. It was possible to determine the adsorption equilibrium constant and reaction rate constant from the same set of data and the reaction follows the Eley Rideal mechanism. The results are novel

Converting liability into asset: novel mesoporous zeotype from fly ash using silatrane chemistry

Fly ash has become a major liability. We report here a clean technology to convert this liability into an asset. Novel mesoporous zeotype, UDCaT-8 was synthesized by using a unique process based on silatrane chemistry. Instead of costly silanes and alkoxides, fly ash was utilized as a raw material. In this process, silicon and aluminium oxide dissolutions were carried out with ethylene glycol in the presence of amines as organic bases. The silatrane and alumatrane glycolate complexes thus formed were converted to a novel mesoporous zeotype via double-stage heating process (pyrolysis followed by oxidation)