Unexpectedly selective hydrogenation of phenylacetylene to styrene on titania supported platinum photocatalyst under 385 nm monochromatic light irradiation

Publication date: April 2020Source: Chinese Journal of Catalysis, Volume 41, Issue 4Author(s): Juhong Lian, Yuchao Chai, Yu Qi, Xiangyang Guo, Naijia Guan, Landong Li, Fuxiang ZhangConversion of alkynes to alkenes by photocatalysis has inspired extensive interest, but it is still challenging to obtain both high conversion and selectivity. Here we first demonstrate the photocatalytic conversion of phenylacetylene (PLE) to styrene (STE) with both high conversion and selectivity by using the titania (TiO2) supported platinum (Pt) as photocatalyst under 385 nm monochromatic light irradiation. It is demonstrated that the conversion rate of PLE is strongly dependent on the content of Pt cocatalyst loaded on the surface of TiO2. Based on our optimization, the conversion of PLE and the selectivity towards STE on the 1 wt% Pt/TiO2 photocatalyst can unexpectedly reach as high as 92.4% and 91.3%, respectively. The highly selective photocatalytic hydrogenation can well be extended to the conversion of other typical alkynes to alkenes, demonstrating the generality of selective hydrogenation of C≡C over the Pt/TiO2 photocatalyst.Graphical AbstractCompared with the traditional catalytic hydrogenation of phenylacetylene using H2 as hydrogenation source, photocatalytic phenylacetylene hydrogenation with methanol as hydrogenation source is a cleaner, safer, and highly selective manner.

Source: Chinese Journal of Catalysis - January 26, 2020 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research