Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

The emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has has been a HOT topic in recent years due to their notorious implication in ozone layer depletion and the formation of ground level ozone.  A specific type of VOC, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are also known to be carcinogenic.  Catalytic oxidation has been utilised as one of the most effective ways to remove unwanted contaminants such as these, however, this usually involves expensive noble metals.  In a move towards alternative materials such as metal-oxides, highly-active CeO₂ has recently been applied to reactions such as the above, CO oxidation and soot combustion – however, their widespread uptake by industry has been restricted by their poor thermal stability. 

High thermal stability of ceria-based mixed oxide catalysts supported on zirconia for toluene combustion

Chen et al. have developed a simple, inexpensive and effective solution to the thermal stability problem, by loading mixed CeO₂-based oxides on ZrO₂.  The catalytic combustion of toluene was studied and the ZrO₂ carrier was shown to not only to stabilise the surface active structure of the catalyst but also to improve its efficiency by enhancing O₂ mobility.

Read more about the potential of these catalysts by downloading the full article for FREE at:

High thermal stability of ceria-based mixed oxide catalysts supported on ZrO₂ for toluene combustion
Han-Feng Lu, Ying Zhou, Wen-Feng Han, Hai-Feng Huang and Yin-Fei Chen
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY20754D

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High activity mesoporous copper doped cerium oxide catalysts for the total oxidation of polyaromatic hydrocarbon pollutants
Asunción Aranda, Elvira Aylón, Benjamín Solsona, Ramón Murillo, Ana María Mastral, David R. Sellick, Said Agouram, Tomás García and Stuart H. Taylor
Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 4704–4706
DOI: 10.1039/C2CC31206A

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have extended the repertoire of C-C bond forming reactions catalysed by gold nanoparticles to include that of the Ullmann reaction.

The Ullmann reaction is an old favourite for synthesising biaryls – it proceeds by coupling together two aryl halides using a transition metal catalyst (traditionally copper).

The heterogeneous catalytic system employed by the authors makes use of gold nanoparticles stabilised on commercially-available nanocrystalline magnesium oxide.

Read more about this work by downloading the article now:

Ullmann coupling of aryl iodides catalyzed by gold nanoparticles stabilized on nanocrystalline magnesium oxide
Keya Layek, H. Maheswaran and M. Lakshmi Kantam

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Microporous materials have a wide range of applications, industrially used as catalysts, molecular sieves and ion-exchangers, zeolites are an important class of microporous material that have generated a huge amount of academic and industrial interest in modern times. With over 200 framework types officially recognized by the Structure Commission of the International Zeolite Association, there is also wide diversity in chemical structure and functionality.

This Hot Perspective by Roberto Millini et al. summarises the latest developments in the field of zeolites, with a focus on areas of innovation such as synthetic procedures, framework composition, hybrid materials and morphologies.

This article is free to download, but only for a limited time…………………… As of January 2013 Catalysis Science & Technology is available by subscription only.

New trends in the synthesis of crystalline microporous materials
Giuseppe Bellussi, Angela Carati, Caterina Rizzo and Roberto Millini
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20510F