The structural chemistry of intermetallic compounds enables active site design in heterogeneous catalysis

Abstract

Completely or partially ordered intermetallic compounds possess unique electronic structures and chemical bonding endowing them as an emergent class of catalytic materials for selective hydrogenation reactions. In this review, we focus on the structural and chemical aspects of the different classes of intermetallic compounds, followed by illustrative examples of the consequences of their structural/chemical features on catalytic hydrogenation. We limit the scope of our discussion to the catalytic chemistry of alkyne (acetylene) semi hydrogenation. We focus our discussion on how the isolation of active sites, formation of defined surface ensembles, partial charge transfer between heteroatoms, and alteration of surface electronic structure impacts the activity and selectivity to desired product(s) based on recent literature observations. This review contributes to informing the appropriate selection of an intermetallic catalyst to achieve high selectivity in hydrogenation reactions.