Mechanisms of Methylenecyclobutane Hydrogenation over Supported Metal Catalysts Studied by Parahydrogen-Induced Polarization Technique

In this work the mechanism of methylenecyclobutane hydrogenation over titania-supported Rh, Pt and Pd catalysts was investigated using parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) technique. It was found that methylenecyclobutane hydrogenation leads to formation of a mixture of reaction products including cyclic (1-methylcyclobutene, methylcyclobutane), linear (1-pentene, cis-2-pentene, trans-2-pentene, pentane) and branched (isoprene, 2-methyl-1-butene, 2-methyl-2-butene, isopentane) compounds. Generally, at lower temperatures (150-350 degrees C) the major reaction product was methylcyclobutane while higher temperature of 450 degrees C favors the formation of branched products isoprene, 2-methyl-1-butene and 2-methyl-2-butene. PHIP effects were detected for all reaction products except methylenecyclobutane isomers 1-methylcyclobutene and isoprene implying that the corresponding compounds can incorporate two atoms from the same parahydrogen molecule in a pairwise manner in the course of the reaction in particular positions. The mechanisms were proposed for the formation of these products based on PHIP results.