Publication Date:
2015-04-25
Description:
Rising global demand for fossil resources has prompted a renewed interest in catalyst technologies that increase the efficiency of conversion of hydrocarbons from petroleum and natural gas to higher-value materials. Styrene is currently produced from benzene and ethylene through the intermediacy of ethylbenzene, which must be dehydrogenated in a separate step. The direct oxidative conversion of benzene and ethylene to styrene could provide a more efficient route, but achieving high selectivity and yield for this reaction has been challenging. Here, we report that the Rh catalyst ((Fl)DAB)Rh(TFA)(eta(2)-C2H4) [(Fl)DAB is N,N'-bis(pentafluorophenyl)-2,3-dimethyl-1,4-diaza-1,3-butadiene; TFA is trifluoroacetate] converts benzene, ethylene, and Cu(II) acetate to styrene, Cu(I) acetate, and acetic acid with 100% selectivity and yields 〉/=95%. Turnover numbers 〉800 have been demonstrated, with catalyst stability up to 96 hours.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Vaughan, Benjamin A -- Webster-Gardiner, Michael S -- Cundari, Thomas R -- Gunnoe, T Brent -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Apr 24;348(6233):421-4. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa2260.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA. ; Center for Advanced Scientific Computing and Modeling, Department of Chemistry, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA. tbg7h@virginia.edu t@unt.edu. ; Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA. tbg7h@virginia.edu t@unt.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25908817" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
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Computer Science
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Medicine
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Natural Sciences in General
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Physics
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