Brønsted solid acids have popularly been used as catalysts or supports for many hydrogenation reactions, while it is uncertain if their structural H species could significantly enhance velocity and reusability… Click to show full abstract
Brønsted solid acids have popularly been used as catalysts or supports for many hydrogenation reactions, while it is uncertain if their structural H species could significantly enhance velocity and reusability for these reactions. In this work, a series of tantalate‐supported silver catalysts Ag/MxH2–xTa2O6 (M=H, Li, Na, K, Sr) were prepared, along with abundant solid acid catalysts (Ag/Al2O3, Ag/SiO2−Al2O3, Ag/ZrO2−SO42−, and Ag/heteropolyacid). By assessing activity of a model reaction from p‐nitrophenol to the corresponding aniline together with an isotope comparative test (Ag/D2Ta2O6 and Ag/H2Ta2O6), a previously unknown route was uncovered, which involves that intrinsic proton H species of the Brønsted solid acid support directly participate in the formation of products. Meanwhile, Ag NPs could form an embedded distribution by exchanging with structural H species, responsible for the stabilization of catalytic active sites. The results reported here could give a deep understanding on proton chemistry of solid acids in construction of catalysts and/or supports in H‐participating reactions.
               
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