Issue 4, 2017

Zwitterionic amidinates as effective ligands for platinum nanoparticle hydrogenation catalysts

Abstract

Ligand control of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) is rapidly gaining importance as ligands can stabilize the MNPs and regulate their catalytic properties. Herein we report the first example of Pt NPs ligated by imidazolium-amidinate ligands that bind strongly through the amidinate anion to the platinum surface atoms. The binding was established by 15N NMR spectroscopy, a precedent for nitrogen ligands on MNPs, and XPS. Both monodentate and bidentate coordination modes were found. DFT showed a high bonding energy of up to −48 kcal mol−1 for bidentate bonding to two adjacent metal atoms, which decreased to −28 ± 4 kcal mol−1 for monodentate bonding in the absence of impediments by other ligands. While the surface is densely covered with ligands, both IR and 13C MAS NMR spectra proved the adsorption of CO on the surface and thus the availability of sites for catalysis. A particle size dependent Knight shift was observed in the 13C MAS NMR spectra for the atoms that coordinate to the surface, but for small particles, ∼1.2 nm, it almost vanished, as theory for MNPs predicts; this had not been experimentally verified before. The Pt NPs were found to be catalysts for the hydrogenation of ketones and a notable ligand effect was observed in the hydrogenation of electron-poor carbonyl groups. The catalytic activity is influenced by remote electron donor/acceptor groups introduced in the aryl-N-substituents of the amidinates; p-anisyl groups on the ligand gave catalysts several times faster the ligand containing p-chlorophenyl groups.

Graphical abstract: Zwitterionic amidinates as effective ligands for platinum nanoparticle hydrogenation catalysts

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
19 Dec 2016
Accepted
31 Jan 2017
First published
01 Feb 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 2931-2941

Zwitterionic amidinates as effective ligands for platinum nanoparticle hydrogenation catalysts

L. M. Martínez-Prieto, I. Cano, A. Márquez, E. A. Baquero, S. Tricard, L. Cusinato, I. del Rosal, R. Poteau, Y. Coppel, K. Philippot, B. Chaudret, J. Cámpora and P. W. N. M. van Leeuwen, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 2931 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC05551F

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