Oxidation of Ethanol in Cu-Faujasites Studied by IR Spectroscopy

In this study, IR studies of the coadsorption of ethanol and CO on Cu⁺ cations evidenced the transfer of electrons from ethanol to Cu⁺, which caused the lowering of the frequency of the band attributed to CO bonded to the same Cu⁺ cation due to the more effective π back donation of d electrons of Cu to antibonding π* orbitals of CO. The reaction of ethanol with acid sites in zeolite HFAU above 370 K produced water and ethane, polymerizing to polyethylene. Ethanol adsorbed on zeolite Cu(2)HFAU containing acid sites and Cu⁺_exch also produced ethene, but in this case, the ethene was bonded to Cu⁺ and did not polymerize. C=C stretching, which is IR non-active in the free ethene molecule, became IR active, and a weak IR band at 1538 cm⁻¹ was present. The reaction of ethanol above 370 K in Cu(5)NaFAU zeolite (containing small amounts of Cu⁺_exch and bigger amounts of Cu⁺_ox, Cu²⁺_exch and CuO) produced acetaldehyde, which was further oxidized to the acetate species (CH₃COO⁻). As oxygen was not supplied, the donors of oxygen were the Cu species present in our zeolite. The CO and NO adsorption experiments performed in Cu-zeolite before and after ethanol reaction evidenced that both Cu⁺_ox and Cu²⁺ (Cu²⁺_exch and CuO) were consumed by the ethanol oxidation reaction. The studies of the considered reaction of bulk CuO and Cu₂O as well as zeolites, in which the contribution of Cu⁺_ox species was reduced by various treatments, suggest that ethanol was oxidized to acetaldehyde by Cu²⁺_ox (the role of Cu⁺_ox could not be elucidated), but Cu⁺_ox was the oxygen donor in the acetate formation.