The abundant availability of light alkanes has led to high interest in pathways to activate and utilize such molecules. It opened new opportunities to synthesize light olefins and oxygenates, challenged only by the high dispersion of the carbon sources, requiring dedicated processes. Three different principal catalysis pathways will be discussed, the dehydrogenation and cracking of light alkanes, the dehydrogenation of propane to propene and the oligomerization of light alkenes. For the three reactions it will be shown, how the atomistic understanding of the catalyst properties including an atomistic description of the active site together with detailed kinetics and the cooperation of theory and experiment are the key to understand catalytic pathways. The interplay between Lewis and Brønsted acid sites and the local fit of ground and transition states in zeolites and molecular organic frameworks is the key to higher rates and selectivities in the studied examples.

Role of acid sites and local confines on the catalyzed conversion of light alkanes

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.