Catalytic reactions of dioxygen with ethane and methane on platinum clusters: Mechanistic connections, site requirements, and consequences of chemisorbed oxygen

Abstract C 2 H 6 reactions with O 2 only form CO 2 and H 2 O on dispersed Pt clusters at 0.2–28 O 2 /C 2 H 6 reactant ratios and 723–913 K without detectable formation of partial oxidation products. Kinetic and isotopic data, measured under conditions of strict kinetic control, show that CH 4 and C 2 H 6 reactions involve similar elementary steps and kinetic regimes. These kinetic regimes exhibit different rate equations, kinetic isotope effects and structure sensitivity, and transitions among regimes are dictated by the prevalent coverages of chemisorbed oxygen (O * ). At O 2 /C 2 H 6 ratios that lead to O * -saturated surfaces, kinetically-relevant C H bond activation steps involve O * O * pairs and transition states with radical-like alkyls. As oxygen vacancies ( ∗ ) emerge with decreasing O 2 /alkane ratios, alkyl groups at transition states are effectively stabilized by vacancy sites and C H bond activation occurs preferentially at O * * site pairs. Measured kinetic isotope effects and the catalytic consequences of Pt cluster size are consistent with a monotonic transition in the kinetically-relevant step from C H bond activation on O * O * site pairs, to C H bond activation on O * * site pairs, to O 2 dissociation on * * site pairs as O * coverage decrease for both C 2 H 6 and CH 4 reactants. When C H bond activation limits rates, turnover rates increase with increasing Pt cluster size for both alkanes because coordinatively unsaturated corner and edge atoms prevalent in small clusters lead to more strongly-bound and less-reactive O * species and lower densities of vacancy sites at nearly saturated cluster surfaces. In contrast, the highly exothermic and barrierless nature of O 2 activation steps on uncovered clusters leads to similar turnover rates on Pt clusters with 1.8–8.5 nm diameter when this step becomes kinetically-relevant at low O 2 /alkane ratios. Turnover rates and the O 2 /alkane ratios required for transitions among kinetic regimes differ significantly between CH 4 and C 2 H 6 reactants, because of the different C H bond energies, strength of alkyl O * interactions, and O 2 consumption stoichiometries for these two molecules. Vacancies emerge at higher O 2 /alkane ratios for C 2 H 6 than for CH 4 reactants, because their weaker C H bonds lead to faster scavenging of O * and to lower O * coverages, which are set by the kinetic coupling between C H and O O activation steps. The elementary steps, kinetic regimes, and mechanistic analogies reported here for C 2 H 6 and CH 4 reactions with O 2 are consistent with all rate and isotopic data, with their differences in C H bond energies and in alkyl binding, and with the catalytic consequences of surface coordination and cluster size. The rigorous mechanistic interpretation of these seemingly complex kinetic data and cluster size effects provides useful kinetic guidance for larger alkanes and other catalytic surfaces based on the thermodynamic properties of these molecules and on the effects of metal identity and surface coordination on oxygen binding and reactivity.