Construction of Highly Active and Selective Molecular Imprinting Catalyst for Hydrogenation

Surface molecular imprinting (MI) is one of the most efficient techniques to improve selectivity in a catalytic reaction. Heretofore, a prerequisite to fabricating selective catalysts by MI strategies is to sacrifice the number of surface-active sites, leading to a remarkable decrease of activity. Thus, it is highly desirable to design molecular imprinting catalysts (MICs) in which both the catalytic activity and selectivity are significantly enhanced. Herein, a series of MICs are prepared by sequentially adsorbing imprinting molecules (nitro compounds, N) and imprinting ligand (1,10-phenanthroline, L) over the copper surface of Cu/Al₂O₃. The resulting Cu/Al₂O₃-N-L MICs not only offer promoted catalytic selectivity but also enhance catalytic activity for nitro compounds hydrogenation by an creating imprinting cavity derived from the presorption of N and forming new active Cu-N sites at the interface of the copper sites and L. Characterizations by means of various experimental investigations and DFT calculations disclose that the molecular imprinting effect (promoted activity and selectivity) originates from the formation of new active Cu-N sites and precise imprinting cavities, endowing promoted catalytic selectivity and activity on the hydrogenation of nitro compounds.