A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors

A novel approach to heterogenisation of catalytic molecules is demonstrated using the nanoscale graphitic step-edges inside hollow graphitised carbon nanofibres (GNFs). The presence of the fullerene C60 moiety within a fullerene-salen CuII complex is essential for anchoring the catalyst within the G...

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Main Author: Schröder, Martin
Format: Article
Published: American Chemical Society 2014
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29687/
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author Schröder, Martin
author_facet Schröder, Martin
author_sort Schröder, Martin
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description A novel approach to heterogenisation of catalytic molecules is demonstrated using the nanoscale graphitic step-edges inside hollow graphitised carbon nanofibres (GNFs). The presence of the fullerene C60 moiety within a fullerene-salen CuII complex is essential for anchoring the catalyst within the GNF nanoreactor as demonstrated by comparison with the analogous catalyst complex without the fullerene group. The presence of the catalyst at the step-edges of the GNFs is confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) with UV/Vis spectroscopy demonstrating only negligible (c.a. 3 %) desorption of the fullerene-salen CuII complex from the GNFs into solution under typical reaction conditions. The catalyst immobilised in GNFs shows good catalytic activity and selectivity towards styrene epoxidation, comparable to the analogous catalyst in solution. Moreover, the fullerene-salen CuII complex in GNFs demonstrates excellent stability and recyclability as it can be readily separated from the reaction mixture and employed in multiple reaction cycles with minimal loss of activity, which is highly advantageous compared to catalysts not stabilised by the graphitic step-edges that desorb rapidly from GNFs.
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spelling nottingham-296872020-05-04T16:55:23Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29687/ A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors Schröder, Martin A novel approach to heterogenisation of catalytic molecules is demonstrated using the nanoscale graphitic step-edges inside hollow graphitised carbon nanofibres (GNFs). The presence of the fullerene C60 moiety within a fullerene-salen CuII complex is essential for anchoring the catalyst within the GNF nanoreactor as demonstrated by comparison with the analogous catalyst complex without the fullerene group. The presence of the catalyst at the step-edges of the GNFs is confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) with UV/Vis spectroscopy demonstrating only negligible (c.a. 3 %) desorption of the fullerene-salen CuII complex from the GNFs into solution under typical reaction conditions. The catalyst immobilised in GNFs shows good catalytic activity and selectivity towards styrene epoxidation, comparable to the analogous catalyst in solution. Moreover, the fullerene-salen CuII complex in GNFs demonstrates excellent stability and recyclability as it can be readily separated from the reaction mixture and employed in multiple reaction cycles with minimal loss of activity, which is highly advantageous compared to catalysts not stabilised by the graphitic step-edges that desorb rapidly from GNFs. American Chemical Society 2014-10-21 Article PeerReviewed Schröder, Martin (2014) A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors. Chemistry of Materials, 26 (22). pp. 6461-6466. ISSN 0897-4756 http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cm502986d doi:10.1021/cm502986d doi:10.1021/cm502986d
spellingShingle Schröder, Martin
A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors
title A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors
title_full A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors
title_fullStr A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors
title_full_unstemmed A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors
title_short A new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors
title_sort new pathway for heterogenization of molecular catalysts by non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoreactors
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29687/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29687/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29687/