Infrared spectra of nitriles of chromia–silica catalyst

Abstract

Spectra were recorded of proprionitrile, benzonitrile, and acrylonitrile adsorbed on chromia–silica. The increased frequencies and integrated areas of the nitrile stretching bands, show that nitriles are linked partly to surface silanols through hydrogen bonding and partly to Chromia ‘acidic’ sites through a σ dative bond. The interaction between chemisorbed nitriles and carbon monoxide indicates that nitriles are strongly adsorbed on the same sites which weakly adsorb carbon monoxide.