High catalytic activity of Rh nanoparticles generated from cobaltocene and RhCl3 in aqueous solution

Wenjuan Wang (1, 2) , Roberto Ciganda (1, 3) , Changlong Wang (1) , Ane Escobar (4) , Angel M. Martinez-Villacorta (4) , Maria de Los Angeles Ramirez (4) , Ricardo Hernandez (3) , Sergio E. Moya (4) , Jaime Ruiz (1) , Jean-René Hamon (2) , Didier Astruc (1)

1 ISM - Institut des Sciences Moléculaires
2 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes
3 UPV/EHU - University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
4 CIC BiomaGUNE

Rh compounds including Rh nanoparticles are among the most active catalysts for many reactions. Catalytically very reactive small Rh nanoparticles have been generated upon reduction of aqueous RhCl3 by cobaltocene, characterized, and shown to be very efficient for the test nitrophenol reduction (compared to other metal NPs), generation of hydrogen from ammonia borane hydrolysis, transfer hydrogenation, and benzene hydrogenation. This useful concept of cobalticinium chloride-stabilized NP catalysts could potentially be efficiently applicable to a variety of other aqueous catalytic systems.

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Wenjuan Wang, Roberto Ciganda, Changlong Wang, Ane Escobar, Angel M. Martinez-Villacorta, et al.. High catalytic activity of Rh nanoparticles generated from cobaltocene and RhCl3 in aqueous solution. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 2019, 6 (10), pp.2704-2708. ⟨10.1039/c9qi00742c⟩. ⟨hal-02359978⟩