In situ NMR of heterogeneous catalysis: new methods and opportunities

Abstract

In situ NMR has been extensively applied in the past decade to obtain basic mechanistic information about reactions in heterogeneous catalysis. Most studies in the literature have employed either sealed glass ampoules of catalyst and adsorbate that are heated outside of the NMR probe or variable temperature studies of samples sealed in magic‐angle spinning (MAS) rotors. In situ NMR studies of sealed samples fail to duplicate the conditions of temperature, reagent introduction and product removal found in bench‐top microreactor studies of catalysis. Previous attempts to more closely duplicate the conditions in flow reactors have motivated NMR studies using temperature jumps and the development of MAS probes with reagent flow. These methods have not yet achieved the time scales of several seconds or tenths of seconds that are typical of catalytic reactions. The pulse‐quench catalytic reactor has been developed to permit NMR studies of catalyst samples that have been prepared under actual reaction conditions. Pulse‐quench studies have provided evidence in support of a carbon‐pool mechanism for methanol‐to‐gasoline chemistry on HZSM‐5 and led to the identification of a pentamethylbenzenium cation formed in a zeolite by the alkylation of benzene with excess methanol.