Solvent identity often has a dramatic impact on the macroscopic performance of catalysts in liquid media; unfortunately, “solvent effects” comprise some of the most complex elementary phenomena that underlie observed reactivity. This leaves us to frequently speculate about how the presence of a solvent may stabilize or destabilize various bulk species, surface intermediates, or transition states in order to effect a change in reaction rate or selectivity, yet it remains difficult to resolve the fundamental origins of solvation from its many confounding artifacts. To this end, we consider the impact of accumulating solvent coverages on Pt and Ru surfaces under vapor phase conditions. This allows us to begin probing the interactions between solvent molecules and adsorbates participating in the catalytic cycle, and we consider how these interactions manifest as observable changes in reaction rate. Our analysis is based primarily upon trends in the rate of ketone hydrogenation over Pt/SiO2 and Ru/SiO2 catalysts in the presence and absence of various solvent molecules, and we discuss the susceptibility of ketone hydrogenation to solvent effects on both surfaces.

Impact of solvent introduction on carbonyl hydrogenation over Pt and Ru

2019 Fall National Meeting

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