Metal-catalyst-free gas-phase synthesis of long-chain hydrocarbons.

ABSTRACT: Development of sustainable processes for hydrocarbons synthesis is a fundamental challenge in chemistry since these are of unquestionable importance for the production of many essential synthetic chemicals, materials and carbon-based fuels. Current industrial processes rely on non-abundant metal catalysts, temperatures of hundreds of Celsius and pressures of tens of bars. We propose an alternative gas phase process under mild reaction conditions using only atomic carbon, molecular hydrogen and an inert carrier gas. We demonstrate that the presence of CH₂ and H radicals leads to efficient C-C chain growth, producing micron-length fibres of unbranched alkanes with an average length distribution between C₂₃-C₃₃. Ab-initio calculations uncover a thermodynamical

SUBMITTER: Martinez L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8511129 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature