Adsorption of chiral modifiers on catalytic surfaces

COLL 491

Francisco Zaera, Zhen Ma, and Jun Kubota. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
Heterogeneous hydrogenation catalysts such as platinum can be made enantioselective by the use of molecular modifiers. In particular, alpha-ketoesters can be selectively hydrogenated by cinchona-modified platinum catalysts to produce the corresponding optically-pure (R)- or (S)-alpha-hydroxoesters. In these, the adsorption details of the modifier appears to be critical to the performance of the catalyst. Here we report on in-situ infrared studies on the adsorption of cinchona modifiers from the liquid phase onto platinum surfaces. A number of properties were probed, including the effects of concentration and solvent on the adsorption.
 

Chiral Surfaces

Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry
The 225th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 23-27, 2003