Studies on Acid-Base Bifunctional Catalysts

Abstract

Several reactions containing alcohol which has both acidic and basic characters were carried out over acid-base bifunctional catalysts. The reactions applied here were (1) dehydration and dehydrogenation of alcohols, (2) hydrogen transfer between alcohols and acetone and (3) butadiene formation from ethanol.
The reaction paths and the roles of acidic and basic sites were clarified taking into account the relationship between the reactivities of alcohols and the structure of them and the correlation of catalytic activities with their acid-base properties. Based on these results, the principles how to select the optimum catalyst was proposed. In order to obtain the optimum catalyst, it is necessary to control the acid-base properties of the catalysts taking into consideration the character of the reactive group in the molecules and the rate determining step.