A Molecular Analogue of the C?H Activation Intermediate of the Silica?Supported Ga(III) Single?Site Propane Dehydrogenation Catalyst: Structure and XANES Signature

Propane dehydrogenation is an important field of research due to increasing world-wide demand propene while classical production routes through naphtha cracking are in decline. In that context, silica-supported Ga(III) sites, synthesized from surface organometallic chemistry principles, show high selectivity and stability the propane reaction. This performance significant contrast reported fast deactivation lower most Ga2O3 CrO3 based materials. The Ga-catalyzed reaction proposed proceed formation Ga alkyl intermediates for which it would be desirable have detailed structural spectroscopic information. Here, we prepare a consistent series molecular complexes with varying numbers siloxide ligands; they characterized by single crystal X-Ray diffraction Absorption Near Edge Structure analysis, known highly sensitive coordination environment. We report particular structure signatures [Ga(iPr)(OSi(OtBu)3)2(HOSi(OtBu)3)], mimic key PDH