For heterogeneous catalysts, desirable properties are associated with well-defined active sites containing one or only a few metal centers on the surface of a support. This situation is similar to that observed for enzymes, which provide a tertiary polypeptide structure for stabilization of reactive centers, and a secondary coordination sphere for binding/activation of substrates. In principle, these latter roles may also be fulfilled by the surface of a suitably modified support material. Given increasing interest in the structure and catalytic chemistry of supported metal centers, we have attempted to develop reliable routes to stable, well-defined catalytic centers bound to an oxide support.  We have utilized a process for the introduction of isolated metal centers, involving grafting reactions with molecular precursors (the thermolytic molecular precursor method). The resulting catalysts display good activities and selectivities for the oxidation of various hydrocarbons, using a variety of oxidants.

Selective oxidation catalysts based on single site, supported metal centers

245th National Meeting (2013)

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