?-Al2O3 is one of the most important oxide materials used in heterogeneous catalysis. Due to its practical imprtance, considerable efforts have been dedicated to the characterization of the catalytic properties of alumina in alcohol dehydration reactions. Over the past several decades, many attempts have been made to udnerstand the nature of alumina surfaces, especially the various Bronsted and Lewis acid sites which are considered active centers in acid catalyzed reactions. However, the mechanisms of alcohol dehydration reactions have not been fully understood. In this work, we set out to characterize the reactivities of active sites preferentially located on the (100) facets of ?-Al2O3. To this end, we inverstigated the adsorption/desorption of ethanol, as well as the dehydration reactions of methanol, ethanol, and 2-butanol on a ?-Al2O3 calcined at different temperatures. High level DFT simulations were also performed to predict the energetically most probable reaction pathways.

Investigations of catalytic alcohol dehydration on γ-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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Investigations of catalytic alcohol dehydration on γ-Al2O3

Investigations of catalytic alcohol dehydration on γ-Al₂O₃