Nature Communications (Apr 2019)
Observation of an oxonium ion intermediate in ethanol dehydration to ethene on zeolite
Abstract
Zeolite-catalyzed dehydration of ethanol offers promising perspectives for the sustainable production of ethene, while the initial step of ethanol dehydration is still unclear. Here, the authors report the observation of a triethyloxonium ion intermediate in ethanol dehydration to ethene on H-ZSM-5 by using solid-state NMR spectroscopy.