Electron-deficient Cu site catalyzed acetylene hydrochlorination

Rational design of catalytic sites to activate the C equivalent to C bond is of paramount importance to advance acetylene hydrochlorination. Herein, Cu sites with electron-rich and electron-deficient states were constructed by controlling the impregnation solutions. The pi electrons flowing from acetylene to Cu site are facilitated over the electron-deficient Cu sites, achieving high activation of C equivalent to C bond. The contradiction between the increased activation of acetylene required for enhanced catalytic activity and the resistance of Cu site to reduction by acetylene required for maintaining catalytic stability can be balanced by establishing strong interactions of Cu site with pyrrolic-N species. The catalytic activity displays a volcano shape scaling relationship as a function of Cu particle size. Tribasic copper chloride is concomitantly generated with the construction of electron-deficient Cu sites. The H-Cl bond of HCl can be activated over the tribasic copper chloride, accelerating the surface reaction of vinyl chloride production. This strategy of inducing electron deficiency provides new insight into the rational design of catalysts for the synthesis of vinyl chloride with a high catalytic performance. (c) 2022 Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The rational design of catalyst sites to activate the C equivalent to C bond is crucial for acetylene hydrochlorination. These researchers controlled the impregnation solutions to create Cu sites with electron-rich and electron-deficient states. By establishing strong interactions with pyrrolic-N species, the activation of acetylene can be balanced with the resistance of Cu sites to reduction, leading to high catalytic performance in vinyl chloride synthesis. This study provides new insights into the rational design of catalysts for the production of vinyl chloride.