Synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts with well shaped platinum particles to control reaction selectivity

Abstract

Colloidal and sol-gel procedures have been used to prepare heterogeneous catalysts consisting of platinum metal particles with narrow size distributions and well defined shapes dispersed on high-surface-area silica supports. The overall procedure was developed in three stages. First, tetrahedral and cubic colloidal metal particles were prepared in solution by using a procedure derived from that reported by El-Sayed and coworkers [Ahmadi TS, Wang ZL, Green TC, Henglein A, El-Sayed MA (1996)Science272:1924–1926]. This method allowed size and shape to be controlled independently. Next, the colloidal particles were dispersed onto high-surface-area solids. Three approaches were attempted: (i)in situreduction of the colloidal mixture in the presence of the support, (ii)in situsol-gel synthesis of the support in the presence of the colloidal particles, and (iii) direct impregnation of the particles onto the support. Finally, the resulting catalysts were activated and tested for the promotion of carbon–carbon double-bondcis-transisomerization reactions in olefins. Our results indicate that the selectivity of the reaction may be controlled by using supported catalysts with appropriate metal particle shapes.