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The intermolecular cobalt‐catalysed cyclotrimerisation of phenylacetylene as a benchmark alkyne with [1,2‐bis(4‐methoxyphenylthio)ethane]cobalt dibromide gave the symmetrical 1,3,5‐triphenylbenzene as the major product when dichloromethane was used as the solvent, whereas the unsymmetrical 1,2,4‐trisubstituted product was obtained in acetonitrile in quantitative yield. Optimisation of the aromatic and aliphatic disulfide ligands in different solvents is discussed.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)

PtPd catalysts are state-of-the-art for automotive diesel exhaust gas treatment. Although wet-chemical preparation of PtPd nanoparticles below 3 nm and kg-scale synthesis of supported PtPd/Al2O3 are already established, the partial segregation of the bimetallic nanoparticles remains an issue that adversely affects catalytic performance. As a promising alternative, laser-based catalyst preparation allows the continuous synthesis of surfactant-free, solid-solution alloy nanoparticles at the g/h-scale. However, the required productivity of the catalytically relevant size fraction <10 nm has yet to be met. In this work, by optimization of ablation and fragmentation conditions, the continuous flow synthesis of nanoparticles with a productivity of the catalytically relevant size fraction <10 nm of >1 g/h is presented via an in-process size tuning strategy. After the laser-based preparation of hectoliters of colloid and more than 2 kg of PtPd/Al2O3 wash coat, the laser-generated catalysts were benchmarked against an industry-relevant reference catalyst. The conversion of CO by laser-generated catalysts was found to be equivalent to the reference, while improved activity during NO oxidation was achieved. Finally, the present study validates that laser-generated catalysts meet the size and productivity requirements for industrial standard operating procedures. Hence, laser-based catalyst synthesis appears to be a promising alternative to chemical-based preparation of alloy nanoparticles for developing industrial catalysts, such as those needed in the treatment of exhaust gases.

The cobalt-catalysed Glaser-type coupling of terminal alkynes was achieved utilising nitrobenzene as a stoichiometric oxidising agent under reductive conditions. The proposed electron transfer from zinc powder to a nitrobenzene coordinated to the cobalt centre initiates the coupling of the coordinated alkynes. Other aryl-, alkenyl-, alkyl-, and silylacetylenes besides phenylacetylene could also be coupled to generate the 1,3-diynes in moderate to very good yields.