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Surface‐Assisted Cyclodehydrogenation; Break the Symmetry, Enhance the Selectivity
Author(s) -
Wiengarten Alissa,
Lloyd Julian A.,
Seufert Knud,
Reichert Joachim,
Auwärter Willi,
Han Runyuan,
Duncan David A.,
Allegretti Francesco,
Fischer Sybille,
Oh Seung Cheol,
Sağlam Özge,
Jiang Li,
Vijayaraghavan Saranyan,
Écija David,
Papageorgiou Anthoula C.,
Barth Johannes V.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201502001
Subject(s) - selectivity , porphyrin , catalysis , scanning tunneling microscope , chemical physics , chemistry , symmetry (geometry) , desorption , photochemistry , materials science , combinatorial chemistry , nanotechnology , adsorption , organic chemistry , geometry , mathematics
Selectivity in chemical reactions is a major objective in industrial processes to minimize spurious byproducts and to save scarce resources. In homogeneous catalysis the most important factor which determines selectivity is structural symmetry. However, a transfer of the symmetry concept to heterogeneous catalysis still requires a detailed comprehension of the underlying processes. Here, we investigate a ring‐closing reaction in surface‐confined meso ‐substituted porphyrin molecules by scanning tunneling microscopy, temperature‐programmed desorption, and computational modeling. The identification of reaction intermediates enables us to analyze the reaction pathway and to conclude that the symmetry of the porphyrin core is of pivotal importance regarding product yields.