Inorganic molecular sieves: Preparation, modification and industrial application in catalytic processes

[EN] The increasing environmental concern and promotion of “green processes” are forcing the substitution of traditional acid and base homogeneous catalysts by solid ones. Among these heterogeneous catalysts, zeolites and zeotypes can be considered as real “green” catalysts, due to their benign nature from an environmental point of view. The importance of these inorganic molecular sieves within the field of heterogeneous catalysis relies not only on their microporous structure and the related shape selectivity, but also on the flexibility of their chemical composition. Modification of the zeolite framework composition results in materials with acidic, basic or redox properties, whereas multifunctional catalysts can be obtained by introducing metals by ion exchange or impregnation procedures, that can catalyze hydrogenation–dehydrogenation reactions, and the number of commercial applications of zeolite based catalysts is continuously expanding. In this review we discuss determinant issues for the development of zeolite based catalysts, going from zeolite catalyst preparation up to their industrial application. Concerning the synthesis of microporous materials we present some of the new trends moving into larger pore structures or into organic free synthesis media procedures, thanks to the incorporation of novel organic templates or alternative framework elements, and to the use of high-throughput synthesis methods. Post-synthesis zeolite modification and final catalyst conformation for industrial use are briefly discussed. In a last section we give a thorough overview on the application of zeolites in industrial processes. Some of them are well established mature technologies, such as fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocracking or aromatics alkylation. Although the number of zeolite structures commercially used as heterogeneous catalysts in these fields is limited, the development of new catalysts is a continuous challenge due to the need for processing heavier feeds or for increasing the quality of the products. The application of zeolite based catalysts in the production of chemicals and fine chemicals is an emerging field, and will greatly depend on the discovery of new or known structures by alternative, lower cost, synthesis routes, and the fine tuning of their textural properties. Finally, biomass conversion and selective catalytic reduction for conversion of NOx are two active research fields, highlighting the interest in these potential industrial applications.The authors acknowledge financial support from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (project Consolider-Ingenio 2010 MULTICAT).Martínez Sánchez, MC.; Corma Canós, A. (2011). Inorganic molecular sieves: Preparation, modification and industrial application in catalytic processes. Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 255(13-14):1558-1580. doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2011.03.014S1558158025513-1

NMR hyperpolarization techniques of gases

Nuclear spin polarization can be significantly increased through the process of hyperpolarization, leading to an increase in the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments by 4–8 orders of magnitude. Hyperpolarized gases, unlike liquids and solids, can often be readily separated and purified from the compounds used to mediate the hyperpolarization processes. These pure hyperpolarized gases enabled many novel MRI applications including the visualization of void spaces, imaging of lung function, and remote detection. Additionally, hyperpolarized gases can be dissolved in liquids and can be used as sensitive molecular probes and reporters. This Minireview covers the fundamentals of the preparation of hyperpolarized gases and focuses on selected applications of interest to biomedicine and materials science

Strategies for the hyperpolarization of acetonitrile and related Ligands by SABRE

(Chemical Equation Presented) We report on a strategy for using SABRE (signal amplification by reversible exchange) for polarizing 1H and 13C nuclei of weakly interacting ligands which possess biologically relevant and nonaromatic motifs. We first demonstrate this via the polarization of acetonitrile, using Ir(IMes)(COD)Cl as the catalyst precursor, and confirm that the route to hyperpolarization transfer is via the J-coupling network. We extend this work to the polarization of propionitrile, benzylnitrile, benzonitrile, and trans-3-hexenedinitrile in order to assess its generality. In the 1H NMR spectrum, the signal for acetonitrile is enhanced 8-fold over its thermal counterpart when [Ir(H)2(IMes)(MeCN)3]+ is the catalyst. Upon addition of pyridine or pyridine-d5, the active catalyst changes to [Ir(H)2(IMes)- (py)2(MeCN)]+ and the resulting acetonitrile 1H signal enhancement increases to 20- and 60-fold, respectively. In 13C NMR studies, polarization transfers optimally to the quaternary 13C nucleus of MeCN while the methyl 13C is hardly polarized. Transfer to 13C is shown to occur first via the 1H - 1H coupling between the hydrides and the methyl protons and then via either the 2J or 1J couplings to the respective 13Cs, of which the 2J route is more efficient. These experimental results are rationalized through a theoretical treatment which shows excellent agreement with experiment. In the case of MeCN, longitudinal two-spin orders between pairs of 1H nuclei in the three-spin methyl group are created. Two-spin order states, between the 1H and 13C nuclei, are also created, and their existence is confirmed for Me13CN in both the 1H and 13C NMR spectra using the Only Parahydrogen Spectroscopy protocol