Abstract: There is a growing need for hydrogen in processing heavier and dirtier fossil fuels and a future hydrogen economy is widely suggested as the next generation fuel/energy source once fossil fuels diminish in availability. Sustainable fuels are still regarded as too expensive given the large amounts of natural gas and a projected, ample supply of fossil fuels beyond the next twenty-plus years. Today, the steam reforming of hydrocarbons is the most favorable route to H2. If CO2 sequestration were ever to become widely practiced, fossil fuels would continue to play an important role in the future hydrogen economy.

Abstract: Careful combination of a metal compound,a ligand and an inorganic support material leads to supramolecular catalysts that mimic the structural, organizational and functional aspects of enzyme activity.After discussing essential features of metalloenzyme-catalyzed reactions and coordination chemistry in inorganic hosts, we present examples of supramolecular materials selected from our own work that eventually resulted in useful catalysts for organic transformations in the liquid phase.

Abstract: The presence of large reserves of natural gas has stimulated research to utilize methane, its principal component, as an alternative energy source and to convert it to other fuels and industrially important chemicals. The reserves of natural gas in the world are estimated to be 1.4 × 1014 Nm3, while new gas fields are being discovered every year. Although this natural gas is available under pressure for piping and transport, extensive research efforts have been directed to develop gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology for the conversion of remote natural gas reserves into high-added-value liquid products, such as methanol and synthetic fuels, that can be more easily transported. A further incentive for natural gas utilization originates from environmental concerns that drive the search for cleaner energy sources. Catalytic combustion of methane offers an attractive alternative to gas-phase homogeneous combustion since it can stabilize flames at lower fuel-to-air ratios, thereby lowering flame temperatures and reducing NOx emission. Another alternative can be found in the conversion of natural gas into hydrogen, which can be used to generate electricity in fuel cells. Fuel cells have a much higher energy efficiency compared to current combustion-based power plants. Also, hydrogen is a much cleaner fuel than hydrocarbon feedstocks since the only product from hydrogen fuel cells is water.

Abstract: Recent studies demonstrate that high-value chemicals can be obtained by selective conversion of polycyclic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene,biphenyl,and phenanthrene, over some zeolite catalysts. This article gives examples of shape-selective alkylation of naphthalene into 2,6-dialkylnaphthalene,ring-shift isomerization of sym-octahydrophenanthrene into sym-octahydroanthracene,shape-selective alkylation of biphenyl into 4,4'-dialkylbiphenyl,conformational isomerization of cis-decalin into trans-decalin,selective hydrogenation of naphthalene into either cis-or trans-decalin, and regio-selective hydrogenation of heteroatom-containing aromatic compounds such as 1-naphthol.The products of such selective reactions are specialty chemicals, monomers of advanced polymer materials such as high-performance polyesters, advanced engineering plastics,and liquid crystalline polymers,or components of advanced thermally stable aviation jet fuels for high-Mach aircraft.

Abstract: Rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation is one of the most important applications of homogeneous catalysis in industry[1]. The addition of CO and H2 to alkenes is a mild and clean method for the functionalization of hydrocarbons. The atom economy of the reaction can be 100% and the selectivity for the desired aldehyde can be very high. Most of the six million tons of aldehydes produced annually by this process is converted into plasticizers for polymers and detergent alcohols. Since the linear aldehydes are the desired products for these applications, a key issue in industrial hydroformylation is the control of regioselectivity. The generally accepted hydroformylation mechanism is shown in Scheme 1. The active catalyst is the five-coordinated complex A, which usually contains two phosphorus ligands. This catalyst consists of two isomeric structures in which the phosphine ligands coordinate in a diequatorial (e-e) and in an equatorial-apical (e-a) fashion. Bidentate ligands can give rise to either of these two complexes depending on their natural bite angle.

Abstract: Operating heterogeneous catalytic reactions at low temperatures offers the prospects of improved selectivity, better catalyst durability and lower running costs. In practice, though, low-temperature catalysis can be unpredictable and transitory. It often arises from fragile nano-scale interactions, which can be difficult to induce,and even more difficult to measure. In trying to understand these interactions some of the long accepted tenets of catalysis are brought into question. We are seeing, however, the emergence of some generic patterns of behavior, which may ultimately allow us to custom-design durable low-temperature catalysts.