Surface state and catalytic activity and selectivity of nickel catalysts in hydrogenation reactions: IV. Electronic effects on the selectivity in the hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene

Abstract

The hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene was carried out over various unsupported Ni catalysts: nickel-boride, Raney-nickel, decomposed-nickel, nickel-phosphide, and nickel treated with H 2S. It was found that the butene distributions characteristic of the catalysts were explainable in terms of the electron density of Ni metal and the reaction mechanism proposed by Wells and co-workers. It is suggested that there are critical electron densities of Ni metal at which catalytic properties change significantly.