Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

An increased industrial demand for propene, and potential applications in the processing of renewable raw materials has led to a strong renewal of interest in development of
heterogeneous olefin metathesis catalysis. Olefin metathesis proceeds through the formation of metal carbene initiating and propagating species. On contact with the reactant, catalyst precursors generate metal carbene initiating sites.  Active polycrystalline molybdenum carbide foils may be prepared through carbonyl bond breaking in chemisorbed aldehydes and ketones to yield surface alkylidene and oxo groups.  In this HOT article, helium ion microscopy imaging is used to characterize the foil as a first step towards determining if the carbide structure plays an important role in the olefin metathesis related surface chemistry.

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Spectroscopic and structural characterization of the formation of olefin metathesis initiating sites on unsupported ß-Mo₂C
I. Temprano, G. Goubert, G. Behan, H. Zhang and P. H. McBreen
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00180A