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Download fileAdsorption Orientation-Induced Selectivity Control of Reactions of Benzyl Alcohol on Pd(111)
journal contribution
posted on 2012-06-28, 00:00 authored by Simon
H. Pang, Alex M. Román, J. Will MedlinTemperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and high-resolution
electron energy
loss spectroscopy (HREELS) experiments were performed to determine
the surface chemistry of benzyl alcohol on Pd(111) at varying initial
surface coverage. At low coverage, benzyl alcohol adopts a flat lying
structure where both the alcohol and phenyl ring are close to the
surface. This structure decomposes through a benzaldehyde intermediate
and undergoes decarbonylation to produce benzene and carbon monoxide.
At high coverage, benzyl alcohol adopts an upright structure where
only the alcohol function is bound to the surface and the phenyl ring
extends into vacuum. The orientation of this structure is correlated
with deoxygenation to produce toluene and water. These results have
important implications in designing catalysts with modified surfaces
and reaction conditions to have high selectivity toward a given process.