Isopropanol Dehydration on Amorphous Silica-Alumina: Synergy of Broensted and Lewis Acidities at Pseudo-Bridging Silanols

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie Vol. 129; no. 1; pp. 236 - 240
• Main Authors: Larmier, Kim, Chizallet, Celine, Maury, Sylvie, Cadran, Nicolas, Abboud, Johnny, Lamic-Humblot, Anne-Felicie, Marceau, Eric, Lauron-Pernot, Helene
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Activation; Aluminum oxide; Dehydration; Density; Density functional theory; Isopropanol; Mathematical analysis; Surface chemistry

The mechanism of isopropanol dehydration on amorphous silica-alumina (ASA) was unraveled by a combination of experimental kinetic measurements and periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We show that pseudo-bridging silanols (PBS-Al) are the most likely active sites owing to the syner...