Ethanol Conversion on Cyclic (MO3)3 (M = Mo, W) Clusters

Abstract

Oxides of molybdenum and tungsten are an important class of catalytic materials with applications ranging from isomerization of alkanes and alkenes, partial oxidation of alcohols, selective reduction of nitric oxide and metathesis of alkeness.[1-10] While many studies have focused on the structure - function relationships, the nature of high catalytic activity is still being extensively investigated. There is a general agreement that the activity of supported MOx (M = W, Mo) catalysts is correlated with the presence of acidic sites, where the catalytic activity is strongly affected by the type of oxide support, delocalization of electron density, structures of tungsten oxide domains and presence of protons