Nickel phosphide nanocatalysts for the chemoselective hydrogenation of alkynes

SummaryWell-defined 25 nm nickel phosphide nanoparticles act as a colloidal catalyst for the chemoselective hydrogenation of terminal and internal alkynes. Cis-alkenes are obtained in mild conditions with good conversion and selectivity. The phosphorus inserted in the Ni–P nanoparticles is critical for the selectivity of the nanocatalyst. Mechanistic investigations using isotope labeling provide insight on the reactants interaction with the nanoparticles surface. They pinpoint the occurrence of CH bond cleavage in terminal alkynes during the reaction.

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► Ni2P nanoparticles selectively hydrogenate phenylacetylene to styrene in solution.
► The hydrogenation reaction is successfully extended to a range of funtionnal alkynes.
► Mechanistic insights are provided by isotopic experiments in liquid and gas-phase.
► Ni2P nanoparticles are compared with Ni2P-Ni core-shell and pure Ni nanoparticles.
► The presence of phosphorus is found to be critical for the reaction selectivity.