Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 1010-1016.doi: 10.1007/s40242-023-3074-5

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Mechanistic Insights into the Catalytic Condensation of Methyl Ketones on MgO Surfaces

ZHOU Mingxia1, Larry A. CURTISS2, and Rajeev S. ASSARY2   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, P.R. China;
    2. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States of America
  • Received:2023-03-20 Online:2023-12-01 Published:2023-11-18
  • Contact: ZHOU Mingxia, Rajeev S. ASSARY E-mail:mingxia323@cup.edu.cn;assary@anl.gov
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China (No.2462022YJRC010).

Abstract: Ketone coupling via aldol condensation is one of the promising routes to produce cyclic and value-added precursors for renewable hydrocarbon biofuels. A first-principles-based microkinetic modeling is performed to evaluate the surface- mediated reaction mechanisms and the role of water molecules in the observed activities for 2-pentanone and 3-pentanone aldol condensation on dehydroxylated MgO (111) surface and hydroxylated terminated surface [OH-MgO (111)]. We have identified the enhancement of the surface OH group to MgO (111) surface catalytic activity by destabilizing the binding strength of reaction intermediates and reducing the energy barriers of rate- determining steps (proton transfer and dehydration steps). The 2- pentanone has one elementary step less in the complete reaction mechanism of aldol condensation and preferable energy barrier for proton transfer and dehydration steps, revealing 2-pentanone as terminal ketone is more reactive than 3-pentanone as central ketone. The water molecules dominated the OH-MgO (111) surface after further addition of water, leading to the reduction of turnover frequency of the aldol condensation dimer product as the loss of aldol condensation reaction intermediates in competitive adsorption with water molecules.

Key words: Aldol condensation, Reaction mechanism, Magnesium oxide, Water effect, Density functional theory