An Al–O–Mo linkage is the active species in a molybdenum-based zeolite catalyst that converts methane to benzene Mitch Jacoby Bycoupling materials synthesis and catalytic-activity studies with apowerful NMR spectroscopy method, a team of researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in Richmond, Wash., and the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physicsin China has identified the active species in a molybdenum-basedzeolite (aluminosilicate) catalyst that converts methane to benzene. Itis an aluminum-oxygen-molybdenum linkage (J. Am. Chem. Soc.,DOI: 10.1021/ja7110916).The study could lead to efficient methods for transforming methane intomore valuable and easily transported liquids, which in turn couldprovide the chemical industry with incentives to tap supplies ofnatural gas in remote areas. To boost ordinarily weak Mo NMR signals, Heng Zheng, Xinhe Bao, and coworkers prepared a series of catalysts from a 95Mo-enrichedprecursor material, evaluated the materials' catalytic activities, andused an ultra high-field NMR method to probe the samples. On the basisof those measurements, the team concluded that during catalystpreparation molybdenum atoms migrate into the zeolite channels andanchor onto acidic aluminum sites, thereby forming Al–O–Mo linkages.These structures serve as catalytically active centers in themethane-conversion reactions.
