Mononuclear Zeolite-Supported Iridium: Kinetic, Spectroscopic, Electron Microscopic, and Size-Selective Poisoning Evidence for an Atomically Dispersed True Catalyst at 22 °C

Abstract

This work addresses the question of what is the true catalyst when beginning with a site-isolated, atomically dispersed precatalyst for the prototype catalytic reaction of cyclohexene hydrogenation in the presence of cyclohexane solvent: is the atomically dispersed nature of the zeolite-supported, [Ir(C2H4)2]/zeolite Y precatalyst retained, or are possible alternatives including Ir4 subnanometer clusters or larger, Ir(0)n, nanoparticles the actual catalyst? Herein we report the (a) kinetics of the reaction; (b) physical characterizations of the used catalyst, including extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectra plus images obtained by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy, demonstrating the mononuclearity and site-isolation of the catalyst; and the (c) results of poisoning experiments, including those with the size-selective poisons P(C6H11)3 and P(OCH3)3 determining the location of the catalyst in the zeolite pores. Also reported are quantitative poisoning experiments showing that each added P(OCH3)3 molecule poisons one catalytic site, confirming the single-metal-atom nature of the catalyst and the lack of leaching of catalyst into the reactant solution. The results (i) provide strong evidence that the use of a site-isolated [Ir(C2H4)2]/zeolite Y precatalyst allows a site-isolated [Ir1]/zeolite Y hydrogenation catalyst to be retained even when in contact with solution, at least at 22 °C; (ii) allow a comparison of the solid–solution catalyst system with the equivalent one used in the solid–gas ethylene hydrogenation reaction at room temperature; and (iii) illustrate a methodology by which multiple, complementary physical methods, combined with kinetic, size-selective poisoning, and quantitative kinetic poisoning experiments, help to identify the catalyst. The results, to our knowledge, are the first identifying an atomically dispersed, supported transition-metal species as the catalyst of a reaction taking place in contact with solution.