Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
February 2015
Reversibility of a dehydrogenation/hydrogenation catalytic reaction has been an elusive target for homogeneous catalysis. In this report, reversible acceptorless dehydrogenation of secondary alcohols and diols on iron pincer complexes and reversible oxidative dehydrogenation of primary alcohols/reduction of aldehydes with separate transfer of protons and electrons on iridium complexes are shown. This reactivity suggests a strategy for the development of reversible fuel cell electrocatalysts for partial oxidation (dehydrogenation) of hydroxyl-containing fuels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelection of optimum process conditions in combinatorial microreactors is essential if the combinatorial synthesis process is to be correlated with the synthesis process on a more conventional scale and the materials are to have the desired chemical properties. We have developed a new methodology for the high-throughput multiparameter optimization of polymerization reaction conditions in arrays of microreactors. Our strategy is based on the application of nondestructive spectroscopic techniques to measure chemical properties of polymers directly in individual microreactors followed by the multivariate spectral descriptor analysis for rapid determination of the optimal process conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTitration calorimetry has been used to determine the enthalpies of protonation (DeltaH(HM)) for the reaction of (L(3))M(CO)(3) complexes, where M = W and Mo and L(3) = cyclic and noncyclic tridentate ligands of the N, S, and P donor atoms, with CF(3)SO(3)H in 1,2-dichloroethane solution at 25 degrees C to give (L(3))M(CO)(3)(H)(+)CF(3)SO(3)(-). The basicities (-DeltaH(HM)) increase with the ligand donor groups (X, Y, or Z) in the order S = PPh << NR (R = Me, Et) for both cyclic and noncyclic ligand complexes that have the same structure of the protonated product. Although the metal basicity (-DeltaH(HM)) generally increases as the ligand donor group basicities (pK(a)'s of the conjugate acids) increase, the large difference between the pK(a) values of thioethers (-6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF