Superbase derived from zirconia-supported potassium nitrate

Superbasic sites can be generated on ZrO2 by loading with KNO3. The spontaneous dispersion capacity of KNO3 on ZrO2 was 8.1 K+ nm(-2) and the KNO3 starts to decompose near 350 degreesC, much lower than that for the decomposition of unsupported KNO3. KNO3/ZrO2 samples exhibited a high activity in both dehydrogenation of isopropanol at 400 degreesC and isomerization of cis-but-2-ene at 0 degreesC. Moreover, they possessed the base strength of H-= 26.5, which is the characteristic of solid superbase. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.