Immobilized metallic and bimetallic complexes and clusters on oxide or zeolite supports made from well-defined molecular organometallic precursors have drawn wide attention because of their novel size-dependent properties and their potential applications for catalysis. It is speculated that nearly molecular supported catalysts may combine the high activity and selectivity of homogenous catalysts with the ease of separation and robustness of operation of heterogeneous catalysts. This chapter is a review of the synthesis and physical characterization of metallic and bimetallic complexes and clusters supported on metal oxides and zeolites prepared from organometallic precursors of well-defined molecularity and stoichiometry.
IntroductionRational design of catalysts guided by fundamental principles correlating composition, structure, and ligand environment with catalyst activity and selectivity has been a longstanding goal in the field of catalysis [1, 2]. Several approaches have been pursued to identify the nature of the active centers, reaction mechanisms, and the kinetics of catalytic processes, including experimental and theoretical investigations of model systems and industrial catalysts. Nevertheless, our understanding of the relationship between active center properties and catalytic performance is far from complete. Even the most thoroughly characterized supported metal catalysts prepared conventionally from salt precursors are less than well understood, because of the limitations of both the samples (nonuniformity of the metal entities) and standard characterization methods, such as N 2 -adsorption, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), etc. In the last few decades, researchers have worked toward the development and use of simple models of supported