Synergistic catalysis for promoting selective C-C/C-O cleavage in plastic waste: structure-activity relationship and rational design of heterogeneous catalysts for liquid hydrocarbon production.

Ever-increasing consumption of plastic products and poor waste management infrastructure have resulted in a massive accumulation of plastic waste in environments, causing adverse effects on climate and living organisms. Although contributing ∼10% towards the total plastic waste management infrastructure, the chemical recycling of plastic waste is considered a viable option to valorize plastic waste into platform chemicals and liquid fuels. Among the various chemical upcycling processes, catalytic hydroprocessing has attracted interest due to its potential to offer higher selectivity than other thermal-based approaches.

Metal-Acid Synergy: Hydrodeoxygenation of Anisole over Pt/Al-SBA-15.

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Karen Wilson and Adam Lee at RMIT University. The image shows platinum nanoparticles and Brønsted acid sites working cooperatively to catalyse the efficient hydrodeoxygenation of phenolic lignin residues to produce sustainable biofuels. The Full Paper itself is available at 10.

Metal-Acid Synergy: Hydrodeoxygenation of Anisole over Pt/Al-SBA-15.

Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is a promising technology to upgrade fast pyrolysis bio-oils but it requires active and selective catalysts. Here we explore the synergy between the metal and acid sites in the HDO of anisole, a model pyrolysis bio-oil compound, over mono- and bi-functional Pt/(Al)-SBA-15 catalysts. Ring hydrogenation of anisole to methoxycyclohexane occurs over metal sites and is structure sensitive; it is favored over small (4 nm) Pt nanoparticles, which confer a turnover frequency (TOF) of approximately 2000 h and a methoxycyclohexane selectivity of approximately 90 % at 200 °C and 20 bar H ; in contrast, the formation of benzene and the desired cyclohexane product appears to be structure insensitive.

Solving local structure around dopants in metal nanoparticles with ab initio modeling of X-ray absorption near edge structure.

We adopted ab initio X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) modeling for structural refinement of local environments around metal impurities in a large variety of materials. Our method enables both direct modeling, where the candidate structures are known, and the inverse modeling, where the unknown structural motifs are deciphered from the experimental spectra. We present also estimates of systematic errors, and their influence on the stability and accuracy of the obtained results.

Isolation of carboxylic acid-protected Au25 clusters using a borohydride purification strategy.

We report the synthesis of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (11-MUA) and 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (16-MHA) protected Au25 clusters with moderate yields (∼15%) using a NaBH4 purification strategy. UV-vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry were employed to study the entire process of the isolation of 11-MUA-protected Au25 clusters from a polydisperse Au cluster solution. UV-vis and TEM data clearly show the formation of a polydisperse mixture, which upon the addition of NaBH4 leads to the growth and precipitation of non-Au25 clusters, leaving the Au25 clusters behind.

Stable and recyclable Au25 clusters for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Thiol-stabilized Au(25)L(18) monolayer protected clusters (MPCs) were found to be active for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. Results suggest that these MPCs are stable catalysts and do not lose their structural integrity during the catalytic process. High stability under the reaction conditions enables the recyclability of these MPCs.