Identification of an Active NiCu Catalyst for Nitrile Synthesis from Alcohol

Development of heterogeneous catalysts for alcohol transformation into nitriles under oxidant-free conditions is a challenge. Considering the C-H activation on alpha-carbon of primary alcohols is the rate-determining step, decreasing the activation energy of C-H activation is critical in order to enhance the catalytic activity. Several NiM/Al2O3 bimetallic catalysts were synthesized and scrutinized in catalytic transformation of 1-butanol to butyronitrile. Ni-Cu was identified as a suitable combination with the optimized Ni0.5Cu0.5/Al2O3 catalyst exhibiting 10 times higher turnover frequency than Ni/ Al2O3 catalyst. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) revealed that the NiCu particles in the catalyst exist in the form of homogeneous alloys with an average size of 8.3 nm, providing an experimental foundation to build up a catalyst model for further density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Calculations were done over a series of NiM catalysts, and the experimentally observed activity trend could be rationalized by the Bronsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) principle, i.e., catalysts that afford reduced reaction energy also feature lower activation barriers. The calculated activation energy (E-a) for C-H activation with coadsorbed NH3 dropped from 63.4 kJ/mol on pure Ni catalyst to 49.9 kJ/mol on the most active NiCu-2 site in NiCu bimetallic catalyst, in good agreement with the experimentally measured activation energy values. The Ni-0.5,Cu-0.5/Al2O3 catalyst was further employed to convert 11 primary alcohols into nitriles with high to near-quantitative yields, at a Ni loading 10 times less than that of the conventional Ni/Al2O3 catalyst.