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Effect of the Crystallographic Phase of Ruthenium Nanosponges on Arene and Substituted‐Arene Hydrogenation Activity
Author(s) -
Ghosh Sourav,
Jagirdar Balaji R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201800287
Subject(s) - ruthenium , ammonia borane , chemistry , hydrogenolysis , catalysis , sodium borohydride , aryl , borane , benzene , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , photochemistry , alkyl , hydrogen production
Identifying crystal structure sensitivity of a catalyst for a particular reaction is an important issue in heterogeneous catalysis. In this context, the activity of different phases of ruthenium catalysts for benzene hydrogenation has not yet been investigated. The synthesis of hcp and fcc phases of ruthenium nanosponges by chemical reduction method has been described. Reduction of ruthenium chloride using ammonia borane (AB) and tert ‐butylamine borane (TBAB) as reducing agents gave ruthenium nanosponge in its hcp phase. On the other hand, reduction using sodium borohydride (SB) afforded ruthenium nanosponge in its fcc phase. The as prepared hcp ruthenium nanosponge was found to be catalytically more active compared to the as prepared fcc ruthenium nanosponge for hydrogenation of benzene. The hcp ruthenium nanosponge was found to be thermally stable and recyclable over several cycles. This self‐supported hcp ruthenium nanosponge shows excellent catalytic activity towards hydrogenation of various substituted benzenes. Moreover, the ruthenium nanosponge catalyst was found to bring about selective hydrogenation of aromatic cores of phenols and aryl ethers to the respective alicyclic products without hydrogenolysis of the C−O bond.