Carbon nitride supported Fe₂ cluster catalysts with superior performance for alkene epoxidation.

ABSTRACT: Sub-nano metal clusters often exhibit unique and unexpected properties, which make them particularly attractive as catalysts. Herein, we report a "precursor-preselected" wet-chemistry strategy to synthesize highly dispersed Fe₂ clusters that are supported on mesoporous carbon nitride (mpg-C₃N₄). The obtained Fe₂/mpg-C₃N₄ sample exhibits superior catalytic performance for the epoxidation of trans-stilbene to trans-stilbene oxide, showing outstanding selectivity of 93% at high conversion of 91%. Molecular oxygen is the only oxidant and no aldehyde is used as co-reagent. Under the same condition, by contrast, iron porphyrin, single-atom Fe, and small Fe nanoparticles (ca. 3 nm) are nearly reactively inert. First-principles calc

SUBMITTER: Tian S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6003949 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature