1H and 13C MAS NMR studies of light alkanes activation over MFI zeolite modified by Zn vapour

The early stages of methane, ethane and propane conversion were studied by in situ 1H and 13C MAS NMR techniques over fully exchanged Zn2+/MFI catalyst obtained by the reaction with zinc vapour. The in situ techniques revealed strong interaction of alkanes with Zn2+ cations evidenced by significant shift of the corresponding NMR lines. Besides that, the formation of methyl zinc, ethyl zinc and n-propyl zinc species along with bridging and silanol surface OH-groups was detected already at the ambient temperature. These results pointed to dissociative adsorption of alkanes over (ZO)-Zn2+-(OZ) and (ZO)-Zn2+-(OSi) active sites of the catalyst. The dissociative adsorption was shown to be a dead-end surface reaction in the case of methane starting reactant, while in the case of ethane and propane, it appeared to be responsible for the initiation of the catalytic cycle leading to alkenes and dihydrogen formation and regeneration of zinc containing catalytic sites.