Continuous Flow Liquid‐Phase Semihydrogenation of Phenylacetylene over Pd Nanoparticles Supported on UiO‐66(Hf) Metal‐Organic Framework

Abstract

AbstractCatalysis under continuous flow operation is industrially more relevant compared to reactions carried out in batch reactors. But catalysis with metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) is largely restricted to batch reactions, especially in case of semi hydrogenation reactions. We anchored Pd nanoparticles (NPs) on robust UiO‐66(Hf) MOF to develop effective catalyst for semi hydrogenation of phenylacetylene into styrene. We investigated catalytic performance of Pd/UiO‐66(Hf) in a continuous‐flow liquid‐phase semi‐hydrogenation of phenylacetylene (PA). In this study, Pd/UiO‐66(Hf) catalyst exhibited good catalytic performance with a rare combination of high PA conversion (99.0 %) and high styrene selectivity (90.0 %). Additionally, Pd/UiO‐66(Hf) demonstrated lower deactivation rate in contrast to many reported materials to date. The higher stability of metal NPs over UiO‐66(Hf) aroused from the strong metal‐support interaction (between Brønsted acidic μ3‐OH of MOF and Pd). The Pd/UiO‐66(Hf) retained its catalytic activity even after four recycles.