Oxidation of CO in Basic Solution Catalyzed by Nickel-Phosphine/Ammonia/Tetra-AmineUnder Ambient Conditions.

Abstract

Previous research (Lo and Jiang, et al. 2015) has illustrated that Ni-cyanide-CO complexes show great promise as CO oxidation catalysts. However, cyanide is a very toxic and hazardous material. Finding a replacement ligand for efficient CO oxidation catalysis is strongly preferred. This report consisted of testing catalytical CO oxidation rates under ambient conditions using three different ligands as replacements: phosphines, ammonia, and tetra-amines along with nickel(2+) in strong basic solution. One of the phosphines tested, 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe), appeared to oxidize CO quickly, while ammonia failed to contribute significantly to catalytic CO oxidation under these conditions. Onset of the pandemic prevented the full evaluation of tetra-amines as the ligand in catalytic CO oxidation.