Catalytic Hydrogenation Dominated by Concerted Hydrogen Tunneling at Room Temperature.

ABSTRACT: Tunneling control of chemical reactions is treasured as the third reactivity paradigm, next to kinetic and thermodynamic control. However, reports on the successful observation and mechanistic insight into quantum tunneling in conventional heterogeneous catalysis are limited. By using an atomically dispersed palladium catalyst, we now demonstrate room-temperature catalytic hydrogenation dominated by concerted triple hydrogen tunneling. While a large kinetic isotope effect value of ∼2440 is observed in the benzyl aldehyde hydrogenation when both H₂ and solvent (CH₃OH) are deuterated, the use of protic solvent is important to achieve enhanced catalysis. Systematic investigations reveal that, with a protic solvent molecule situated between the catalytic site and aldehyde

SUBMITTER: Wu Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12670312 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature