Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Energiekonversion, Department of Heterogeneous Reactions, Stiftstrasse 34-36, 45470, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2022 Dec 13;13(1):7504. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34967-2.
The chemical industry faces the challenge of bringing emissions of climate-damaging CO to zero. However, the synthesis of important intermediates, such as olefins or epoxides, is still associated with the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases. This is due to both a high energy input for many process steps and insufficient selectivity of the underlying catalyzed reactions. Surprisingly, we find that in the oxidation of propane at elevated temperature over apparently inert materials such as boron nitride and silicon dioxide not only propylene but also significant amounts of propylene oxide are formed, with unexpectedly small amounts of CO. Process simulations reveal that the combined synthesis of these two important chemical building blocks is technologically feasible. Our discovery leads the ways towards an environmentally friendly production of propylene oxide and propylene in one step. We demonstrate that complex catalyst development is not necessary for this reaction.
化工行业面临着将破坏气候的 CO 排放量降至零的挑战。然而，重要中间体的合成，如烯烃或环氧化物，仍然与大量温室气体的释放有关。这是由于许多工艺步骤需要大量的能源输入，而且基础催化反应的选择性不足。令人惊讶的是，我们发现，在高温下用氮化硼和二氧化硅等显然惰性的材料氧化丙烷时，不仅形成丙烯，而且还形成大量的环氧丙烷，同时 CO 的生成量却出人意料地小。过程模拟表明，这两种重要化学构建块的联合合成在技术上是可行的。我们的发现为一步法生产环氧丙烷和丙烯提供了一条环保的途径。我们证明，对于这种反应，复杂的催化剂开发并不是必需的。
