Palladium-Phosphorus Nanoparticles as Effective Catalysts of the Chemoselective Hydrogenation of Alkynols

Abstract

The effect of the composition of the catalytic system and reaction conditions on the properties of phosphorus-modified palladium catalysts in hydrogenations of alkynols was studied. Modification with phosphorus increased the activity and turnover number of palladium catalysts in the hydrogenation of the model compound 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol (MBY) without any reduction in the selectivity to 2-methyl-3-butene-2-ol at 95–98% MBY conversion. The promoting effect of phosphorus on the properties of the palladium catalyst is caused not only by an increase in the particle size, but also, probably, by a change in the energy of interaction of reagents with the active sites. Hypotheses on the nature of the carriers of catalytic activity in Pd–P particles were discriminated using kinetic methods with the differential selectivity of catalytic systems as the main measured parameter under the conditions of competition between two alkynols. The hydrogenation of acetylenic alcohols involves only one of the two potentially active forms in Pd–P nanoparticles—Pd(0) clusters, whereas the hydrogenation of the resulting allyl alcohols involves both Pd(0) clusters and palladium phosphides.