Remote Activation Catalysis: Interparticle Hydrogen Spillover-Assisted Cumene Synthesis from Propane and Benzene.

Hydrogen spillover, particularly when involving "interparticle" hydrogen spillover, offers a unique opportunity to enhance catalytic efficiency by remote activation of surface acidity. Building on this concept, this study aims to investigate physically mixed alumina-supported platinum nanoparticles (Pt/AlO) and zirconia-supported tungsten oxide (WO/ZrO) in promoting the direct synthesis of cumene from benzene and propane at 300 °C. The reaction with Pt/AlO alone afforded propylene as the only product, indicating the successive reaction route of Pt-catalyzed dehydrogenation of propane, followed by acid-catalyzed alkylation. WO/ZrO with 18 wt.% WO loading resulted in high benzene conversion (≈5.0%) and cumene selectivity (≈87.5%), which possesses poly tungstate species on the surface that is active for the acid-catalyzed alkylation. UV-vis-near infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and in situ Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analyses revealed that atomic hydrogen abstracted from propane spills over from Pt/AlO particles to WO/ZrO particles to form Brønsted acid sites on the poly tungstate species, whose activity for alkylation between benzene and propylene is double that of the parent WO/ZrO.