Neopentane conversion over Pd/γ-Al2O3

• DOI: 10.1007/bf00817031
• Publication Date: 2004-12-14T12:22:25Z
• Authors: W. Juszczyk; D. łomot; Z. Karpiński; J. Pielaszek
• Keywords: Neopentane; Organometallic Chemistry

X-ray diffraction showed that during high temperature reduction at 600°C, chlorine-free Pd/γ-Al2O3 undergoes partial transformation to a Pd-Al alloy, which confirms results of other studies [9]. This evolution appears to have a large effect on the catalytic behaviour in the reaction of neopentane with hydrogen: the selectivity towards isomerization increases from <20 up to ∼80%. At the same time, the activation energy drops from ∼ 60 to ∼ 22 kcal/mol. These changes can be reversed by oxidation at 500°C followed by reduction at 300°C. The presence of residual chlorine (ex-PdCl2 precursor) appears to inhibit the Pd induced reduction of Al2O3 leading to Pd-Al alloy formation.