On the Design and Study of Robust Catalysts for Alkane Conversion

该奖项来自无机化学、生物无机化学和金属有机化学项目，是金属有机化学领域。该项目的目标是开发更坚固的催化剂，将烷烃转化为其他有机化合物。烷烃是石油的主要成分，因此，有效的烷烃转化催化剂在从石油合成塑料和其他材料的工业中非常重要。这些催化剂在降解时更换是非常昂贵的，因此开发抗降解的催化剂具有重要的经济意义。该项目的重点是开发均相烷烃转化催化剂，这种催化剂不会因P-C键断裂而失活。将特别强调过渡金属多氢化物，它完全由N-给体配体稳定，并且含有二氢配体。将探索各种N-和S-给体配体，并将用各种物理方法研究聚氢化物的结构，特别是拉曼光谱和变温核磁共振光谱。除了研究新型催化剂外，还将尝试扩大可能的烷烃转化范围。有待探索的反应类型包括不饱和物种的氢烷基化、芳烃和CO的烷基化以及脱氢环化。此类反应要么目前对烷烃一无所知，要么只知道在多相催化剂上发生。

This award from the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program is the area of organometallic chemistry. The goal of the project is to develop more robust catalysts for conversion of alkanes to other organic compounds. Alkanes are the principal constituents of petroleum, and efficient catalysts for alkane conversion are therefore important in the industrial synthesis of plastics and other materials from petroleum. Replacement of these catalysts as they degrade is very expensive, and the development of catalysts which resist degradation is thus of great economic significance. The focus of the project is the development of homogeneous alkane conversion catalysts which are not subject to deactivation by P-C bond cleavage. Particular emphasis will be placed on transition metal polyhydrides which are stabilized purely by N-donor ligands and which contain dihydrogen ligands. A variety of N- and S-donor ligands will be explored, and the structures of the polyhydride derivatives will be studied by a variety of physical methods, notably by Raman spectroscopy and variable temperature NMR spectroscopy. In addition to studying catalysts of new types, attempts will be made to extend the range of possible alkane conversions. Among the types of reactions to be explored are hydroalkylation of unsaturated species, alkylation of arenes and of CO, and dehydrocylisation. Such reactions are either not currently known at all for alkanes or are only known to occur over heterogeneous catalysts.