Partial Hydrogenation of Alkynes and Dienes on Highly Selective Fe-Cu/SiO2 Catalysts

Abstract

Abstract A Fe-Cu/SiO 2 catalyst, prepared by coprecipitation of iron and copper sulfates over ultrafine silica gel with an excess amount of sodium or potassium carbonate at a low temperature, was found to be highly selective in the partial hydrogenation of various alkynes and conjugated dienes. The use of potassium carbonate as the precipitant resulted in a catalyst with an improved selectivity in a tail-end hydrogenation of phenylacetylene, probably because of an electronic effect of the K ions remaining on the catalyst surface.