Stefania Albonetti

Pd/Rh and Pd/Pt catalysts supported on two different mesoporous materials – a Zr-doped MCM-41-type silica [Si/Zr = 5 w/w (SiZr)] and a commercial silica-alumina [Si/Al = 40:60 w/w (SiAl)] – were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation using nanosized suspensions of alloy particles prepared by polyol-mediated synthesis in diethylene glycol (DEG). The catalytic behaviour of these catalysts was investigated in the hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis/ring-opening of naphthalene at 6.0 MPa, by checking the role of both the main reaction conditions (temperature, contact time and H2/naphthalene molar ratio) and increasing amounts of dibenzothiophene (DBT). The catalysts supported on SiAl showed higher activity than catalysts supported on SiZr, thus suggesting that activity is favoured by higher acidity of the support and/or higher interaction of the nanosized metal particles with the support. While using the SiZr support, weaker metal-support interactions took place by forming catalysts with bigger metal and/or metal oxide particles. Besides, the catalyst with lowest noble-metal content (0.3 wt.%) (SiAl-0.3Pd/Pt-5) had the greatest acidity and metal surface and, consequently, the highest activity. Furthermore, it exhibited a good thiotolerance in presence of increasing amounts of DBT in the feed, thus maintaining a high catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of naphthalene, although with decreased yield in trans- and cis-decalin (decahydronaphthalene or DeHN) and high-molecular-weight compounds (H.M.W.), with a corresponding increased yield in the partially hydrogenated tetralin (tetrahydronaphthalene or TeHN).

ABSTRACT This work deals with the oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) in water using supported Pd–Au nanoparticles. The active phase composition was shown to be crucial for FDCA formation. Indeed, both Au and Pd monometallic nanoparticles formed 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furancarboxylic acid (HMFCA) under the studied conditions; however, with Pd nanoparticles HMFCA was not further transformed, while Au and bimetallic Pd–Au systems both catalysed its oxidation to FDCA.

ABSTRACT The previously unexplored use of methanol as a H-transfer agent for the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction of aromatic aldehydes and aryl ketones is described. Furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, benzaldehyde, and acetophenone were selectively reduced to the corresponding alcohols in mild conditions. The reaction mechanism was elucidated by means of reactivity tests and DFT calculations. It was found to include the highly efficient H-transfer with the formation of formaldehyde, which further reacted with excess methanol to generate the adsorbed hemiacetal. In turn, the latter reduced carbonyl, with the formation of methylformate, which further decomposed into CO, CH4, and CO2. Compared to the alcohols typically used for carbonyl reductions, methanol showed the advantage of producing gaseous components as the only co-products, which are easily separated from the reaction medium. In the case of furfural, a 100% yield to furfuryl alcohol was obtained, using the high-surface area MgO as the easily recoverable and reusable catalyst.

The structural relaxation around Cr(3+) in YAl(1-x)Cr(x)O(3) perovskites was investigated and compared with analogous Cr-Al joins (corundum, spinel, garnet). Eight compositions (x(Cr)((3+)) from 0 to 1) were prepared by sol-gel combustion and were analyzed by a combined X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron absorption spectroscopy (EAS) approach. The unit cell parameters and the XRD averaged octahedral (Cr,Al)-O and ([VIII])Y-O bond distances scale linearly with the chromium fraction. The optical parameters show an expected decrease of crystal field strength (10Dq) and an increase of covalency (B(35)) and polarizability (B(55)) toward YCrO(3), but a nonlinear trend outlines some excess 10Dq below x(Cr)((3+)) approximately 0.4. The local Cr-O bond lengths, as calculated from EAS, indicate a compression from 1.98 A (x(Cr)((3+)) = 1.0) down to 1.95 A (x(Cr)((3+)) = 0.035) so that the relaxation coefficient of perovskite (epsilon = 0.54) is the lowest in comparison with garnet (epsilon = 0.74), spinel (epsilon = 0.68), and corundum (epsilon = 0.58) in contrast with its structural features. The enhanced covalent character of the Cr(3+)-O-Cr(3+) bond in the one-dimensional arrangement of corner-sharing octahedra can be invoked as a factor limiting the perovskite polyhedral network flexibility. The increased probability of Cr-O-Cr clusters for x(Cr)((3+)) greater than approximately 0.4 is associated to diverging trends of nonequivalent interoctahedral angles. The relatively low relaxation degree of Y(Al,Cr)O(3) can be also understood by considering an additional contribution to 10Dq because of the electrostatic potential of the rest of the lattice ions upon the localized electrons of the CrO(6) octahedron. Such an "excess" of 10Dq increases when the point symmetry of the Cr site is low, as in perovskite, and would be affected by the change of yttrium effective coordination number observed by XRD for x(Cr)((3+)) greater than approximately 0.4. This would justify the systematic underestimation of local Cr-O bond distances, as inferred from EAS, compared to what is derived from X-ray absorption (XAS) studies implying a stronger degree of relaxation around Cr(3+) of all the structures considered and supporting the hypothesis that 10Dq from EAS contains more information than previously retained particularly an additional contribution from the next nearest neighboring ions.

ABSTRACT A series of bimetallic mesostructured Pd/Cu MCM-41 catalysts were obtained by incipient wetness impregnation and direct hydrothermal synthesis using two different silica sources (silicates and Teos) and replacing the conventional hydrothermal treatment by the microwave hydrothermal one. Catalysts were tested in the hydrogen assisted dechlorination of CF3OCFClCF2Cl to CF3OCF=CF2. The influence of the synthesis procedure on the supports and catalysts chemico-physical properties was investigated by XRD, N-2 adsorption/desorption, HRTEM/EDS, and TPR. The incorporation of Pd and Cu in the course of MCM-41 synthesis, regardless of the hydrothermal treatment, did not destroy the typical hexagonal channel array and ordered pore system of MCM-41. However, the calcination for the removal of the template provoked the segregation of oxides, and thus large PdCu bimetallic particles are obtained after reduction. The impregnation leads to pore-occlusion, more remarkable for the sample obtained from silicates as silica source, and after reduction, both isolated monometallic Cu particles and large bimetallic PdCu particles coexist on the external surface of the support. The larger the metallic particles, the lower the conversion of CF3OCFClCF2Cl; while the presence of monometallic particles may decrease the selectivity in CF3OCF=CF2, fostering the formation of CF3OCH=CF2 by dehalogenation.

ABSTRACT The production of H2 for on-board application is a very interesting challenge for industrial and academic researchers. The aim is the application of on-board hydrogen production on the airplanes using kerosene as H2 source. In this work an in depth study into the partial dehydrogenation (PDH) of two hydrocarbons blends and desulfurized JetA1 fuel has been performed by using 1 wt.%Pt–1 wt.%Sn/γ-Al2O3 and 1 wt.%Pt–1 wt.%Sn–0.5%K/γ-Al2O3 to find a way to produce H2 “on-board” for the feeding of the fuel-cell apparatus. The mechanism of deactivation by coke was studied in depth combining Raman spectroscopy and Temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO) analyses. Microstructure analysis of metallic particles in fresh and deactivated catalysts was investigated by HRTEM. Relatively high H2 partial pressure increases catalyst life by controlling full dehydrogenation coke-forming reaction. By feeding model organic molecules, it was possible to identify the contribution of each class of compounds to the H2 production as well as the amount and type of coke formed. A relatively complex reaction pathway, which is able to evidence the role of different sites and reactions involved in PDH processes, was proposed.

The bio-based substrate and target product 2,5-bishydroxymethylfuran (BHMF) demonstrated to influence the reaction kinetics in the homogeneous reduction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) catalyzed by the Ru-based Shvo's catalyst. A combined experimental and computational study supports an important role of the -CH2OH moiety which may be involved in the catalytic cycle toward the formation of different intermediates from HMF and BHMF. The reaction is selective and leads to quantitative formation of BHMF working under mild conditions. Furthermore, an optimized recycling procedure which avoids the use of water, allows recover and reuse of the catalyst without loss of activity. The mechanistic insights from this work may be extended to provide a general description of the chemistry of the Shvo's catalyst feeding further bio-based molecules.