THE INTERACTIONS OF OXYGEN WITH ALDEHYDES ON THE PD(111) SURFACE Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Oxygen atoms alter the characteristic chemistry of aldehydes on transition metal surfaces in a variety of ways. The most dramatic effect of oxygen on the Pd(111) surface was to shift the principal reaction pathway of C1C3 aldehydes from decarbonylation on the clean surface to carboxylate formation on the (2 2)O surface. This shift actually involves several different roles played by surface oxygen, including alteration of the preferred binding state of aldehydes from 2 to 1, and nucleophilic oxidation of adsorbed aldehydes to form carboxylates. Oxygen adatoms also influence the thermal stabilities and reaction selectivities of carboxylates, both by lateral interactions and by scavenging adsorbed hydrogen atoms which would otherwise hydrogenate carboxylates carboxylic acids. Oxygen adatoms also initiated formaldehyde polymerization on the Pd(111) surface, but no polymerization of the higher aldehydes was observed. The multiple roles played by oxygen serve to illustrate some of the difficulties in oxidation catalysis by noble metals. 1992.

published proceedings

  • SURFACE SCIENCE

author list (cited authors)

  • DAVIS, J. L., & BARTEAU, M. A.

citation count

  • 41

complete list of authors

  • DAVIS, JL||BARTEAU, MA

publication date

  • January 1992