Ethene chlorination and oxidative coupling over supported mono- and bi-metallic chloride catalysts

Abstract

Temperature-programmed reduction of metal chlorides upon silica, alumina, and titania supports using ethene produces chloroethene and 1,2-dichloroethane, together with rather unexpectedly, 1,1-dichloroethane and benzene in yields which differ from one metal chloride to another; results suggest the involvement of novel ‥ H/Cl ‥ exchange and oxidative-coupling reactions and also suggest that this technique of ethene titration may be of value in characterising the active sites in chloride catalysts and catalytic precursors.