A DFT study of the catalytic ODH of n-hexane over a cluster model of vanadium oxide

Supported vanadium oxides are one of the most widely reported catalysts for the selective oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of alkanes to alkenes. These vanadium oxide catalysts contain at least three distinct O species classified by their coordination to the vanadium cations. The involvement in ODH of the different oxygen species is thought to follow the coordination environment with singly coordinated vanadyl V(V)=O being the most reactive. A quantitative understanding of the relative activity of the different oxygen species in vanadium oxides could inform catalyst design to further enhance productivity and selectivity in the ODH reaction. Here we use computational models based on hybrid density functional theory to study the mechanistic pathway for n-hexane to 1- and 2-hexene. We compare the potential energy surfaces calculated for these reactions initiated by fl-H abstraction with H transfer to the vanadyl oxygen, V(V)=O, with that involving H transfer to a two-coordinate bridging O atom. An isolated H4V2O7 cluster is used to represent the supported vanadium oxide catalyst so that the reactivity of oxygen species can be understood in the absence of support effects. Gibbs energy calculations were carried out at temperatures of 573, 673 and 773 K to mirror laboratory experimental conditions. We find that the rate-determining step (RDS) in the conversion of n-hexane to either alkene is associated with n-hexane interaction with H4V2O7 through a secondary C-H bond. This leads to fl-H abstraction with the calculated reaction barrier for abstraction by a V(V)=O (Delta E4 = +32.7 kcal mol-1) significantly lower than that for the twocoordinate bridging O (Delta E4 = +43.9 kcal mol-1). H-abstraction leads to reduction of one of the vanadium cations. Removal of the second H atom to form an alkene can follow several pathways. We have considered the second step leading to 2-hexene (y-H abstraction) using either an adjacent V(V)=O on the reduced V(IV)-O-V(V) unit, a different active V(V)=O site on a fully oxidised cluster, or gas-phase molecular O2. Our results show that the ODH process is likely to proceed via a Mars-van Krevelen redox mechanism. In a practical catalyst the results imply that catalyst activity will depend on the surface coverage of V(V)=O active sites and the n-hexane to gasphase molecular oxygen ratio. In addition to the pathways leading to alkene products we have noted the formation of C-O bonds by the radical intermediate formed from the initial fl-H abstraction. From this observation, we suggest that the low yields of 1- and 2-hexene (< 20%) obtained in our laboratory experiments with V2O5/ MgO catalysts may be a result of the chemisorption properties of the radical intermediate (center dot C6H13) on bridging or terminal O sites in the V(V)-O-V(V) units, leading to undesired products including oxygenates.