The hydrogenation of 2-butyne-1,4-diol in propan-2-ol over a carbon-supported palladium catalyst has been investigated in a batch reactor. At low conversions complete selectivity to cis-but-2-ene-1,4-diol is observed. However, further hydrogenation leads to a wide variety of products, most notably 2-isopropoxy-tetrahydrofuran and butane, neither of which have previously been associated with this reaction system. The former is thought to occur as a result of a surface-mediated process, involving the insertion of dissociatively adsorbed solvent molecules. Butane formation is attributed to the double condensation and hydrogenation of a chemisorbed cis-but-2-ene-1,4-diol intermediate. The alkane preferentially partitions in the gaseous phase, which results in an marked mass imbalance for the liquid phase. A reaction scheme is presented to rationalise these observations.
The hydrogenation of a mixture of cis-and trans-1,3-pentadiene over a 1% Pd/Al 2 O 3 catalyst at 303 K has been studied using infrared spectroscopy to monitor the changes in the composition of the gas phase over the catalyst as a function of time. The reaction is seen to occur as a consecutive process, with the terminal double bond hydrogenated in advance of the internal double bond. Vibrational assignments have been confirmed through ancillary calculations for a number of C 5 molecules. The reaction profile is consistent with the catalyst presenting two distinct reaction sites: hydrogenation of the terminal double bond occurs at Site a, whilst Site b is responsible for hydrogenation of the internal double bond. Trans-pent-2-ene is identified as the only reaction intermediate. From comparative studies of the hydrogenation of pentenes over the catalyst, the absence of any cis-pent-2-ene in the reaction mixture is tentatively attributed to cis-1,3-pentadiene isomerising at Site a to form trans-1,3pentadiene. The effect of toluene-d 8 to act as a chemical modifier was also investigated and shown to selectively poison Site b, Site a being unperturbed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.