Top Catal (2011) 54 561-567
Top Catal (2011) 54 561-567
Top Catal (2011) 54 561-567
4H
2
O diluted in a minimum amount of water to produce a
dark red crystalline precipitate.
2.2 Preparation of Lauryltrimethyl-, Myristyltrimethyl-,
and Cetyltrimethyl-ammonium
Tetrathiomolybdate
Freshly prepared (NH
4
)
2
MoS
4
(1.62 g, 6.22 mmol) was
dissolved in water (50 mL) with stirring. An aqueous
solution (12.44 mmol in 50 mL water) of R(CH
3
)
3
NX,
where R = lauryl (dodecyl), myristyl (tetradecyl), cetyl
(hexadecyl) was then added and the mixture stirred for 1 h
at room temperature. The resulting precipitate was isolated
by vacuum ltration, washed rst with cold water and then
with isopropyl alcohol. The solid was dried at room tem-
perature and kept under N
2
atmosphere.
2.3 Characterization of Samples
1
H-NMR spectra were recorded in DMSO-d
6
solutions
using a Gemini 200 Varian spectrometer, and were refer-
enced to SiMe
4
(
1
H).
Specic surface areas were measured with a Quanta-
chrome AUTOSORB-1 by N
2
absorption at 77 K, using the
BET isotherm and a sample mass of 0.20.3 g. Samples
were degassed under owing argon at 473 K for 2 h before
N
2
adsorption. The pore size distribution was obtained
from the desorption data, following the BJH method. The
mean standard deviation for the surface area measurements
was about 2%.
The X-ray diffraction patterns of the prepared samples
were obtained with a Philips X
0
Pert analytical diffractom-
eter for powder samples using Cu Ka radiation. Their
phases were identied with reference to the data base of the
International Centre for Diffraction Data.
A Jeol JSM5800 IV scanning electron microscope was
used to perform morphology and EDX elemental analysis.
Several elds were analyzed at different magnications in
order to recognize the prevalent features. EDX analysis
were performed with an eBX-ZAF system, using an MoS
2
reference sample to deconvolute the L lines of S and Mo.
All the catalyst samples were separated from the reaction
mixture by ltration, washed with isopropyl alcohol to
remove residual hydrocarbons, and dried in air at room
temperature before EDX analysis.
Transmission electron microscopy was done on a Philips
FEG TECNAI F20 transmission electron microscope
operated at 200 kV.
2.4 Catalytic Activity and Selectivity
The HDS of DBT was tested in a high pressure 300 mL
Parr reactor by placing 4.4 g DBT, 100 mL of decalin
and the calculated amount of precursor needed to pro-
duce 0.68 g of catalyst. The reactor was purged of
residual air, pressurized with H
2
to 3.1 MPa (450 psi)
and then heated to the reaction temperature of 623 K in
about 10 min. A stirring rate of 600 rpm was used. The
advance of the reaction was monitored by gas chroma-
tography with a HP 6890 gas chromatograph, using
samples taken every 20 min during the rst hour, then
every 30 min for the next 4 h. Reduction of sample
volume due to sampling was B5% of total volume. The
identity of the reaction products was conrmed by mass
spectrometry with a HP 6890 GCMS, using a HP-5MS
capillary column (30 m 9 0.25 mm 9 0.25 lm). Cata-
lytic activity was expressed in terms of % conversion of
DBT versus reaction time, and from these data, the
reaction rates were calculated for each catalyst. The
mean standard deviation for catalytic measurements was
about 2.5%.
The HDS of DBT yields biphenyl (BP) through the
direct desulfurization pathway (DDS), and cyclohexyl-
benzene (CHB) and tetrahydrodibenzothiophene (THDBT)
through the hydrogenation pathway (HYD). Since these
two pathways are parallel [23], the selectivity (HYD)/
(DDS) was calculated by the equation:
HYD=DDS CHB THDBT = BP
562 Top Catal (2011) 54:561567
1 3
.
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 Precursor Characterization by
1
H-NMR
The synthesis of the three alkyltrimethylammonium thio-
molybdates used as MoS
2
catalyst precursors involves the
reaction in aqueous solution of (NH
4
)
2
MoS
4
(ATTM) with
stoichiometric amounts of the corresponding alkyltryme-
thylammonium halide, according to the metathesis reac-
tion 1
NH
4
2
MoS
4
2 R N CH
3
3
X
! R N CH
3
3
2
MoS
4
2 NH
4
X 1
where R = lauryl, myristyl and cetyl
The
1
H-NMR spectra (Fig. 1ac) for the resulting
lauryltrimethylammonium thiomolybdate (LTAT), myr-
istyltrimethylammonium thiomolybdate (MTAT), and
cetyltrimethylammonium thiomolybdate (CTAT) showed
signals associated with ve different groups of protons that
are present in their chemical structures. Figure 1a shows the
NMR spectrum for LTAT, where the broad singlet at
3.42 ppm is assigned to 18 protons in the (CH
3
)
3
N groups;
the singlet at 3.14 ppm (J = 7.4 MHz), to 4 protons in the
CH
2
N groups; the signal at 1.74 ppm, to 4 protons in the
CH
2
groups in beta position from the N atom; the broad
singlet at 1.36 ppm, to 36 protons attributed to the follow-
ing CH
2
groups in the alkyl chain. The triplet at 0.96 ppm
(J = 7 Hz), is assigned to 6 protons belonging to the CH
3
groups located at the end of the C12 hydrocarbon chain. The
interpretation of the NMR spectra of MTAT and CTAT,
shown in Fig. 1b, c respectively, was analogous to that of
the NMR spectrum of LTAT. The
1
H-NMR data for the
three synthesized thiomolybdates is found in Table 1.
3.2 Catalyst Characterization
3.2.1 X-ray Diffraction
The diffraction patterns of the prepared MoS
2
catalysts are
compared in Fig. 2. While the samples obtained by in situ
decomposition are all microcrystalline, the pattern for the
MSH sample, Fig. 2a, is composed of several broad
peaks, corresponding to the (002), (100), (103), (110) and
(008) reections reported for the structure of poorly crys-
talline MoS
2
2H [2426]. The broad peaks indicate a
microcrystalline, nearly amorphous material. However, the
peak at 2h = 14 corresponds to the well dened (002)
reection of MoS
2
2H, which implies a signicant amount
of basal layer stacking in the c direction of the catalyst
particles. The reections corresponding to the (100) and
(103) planes are less intense than in MoS
2
2H crystals. The
asymmetric form of the (100) family is a characteristic of
random layered structures [26].
The XRD patterns shown in Fig. 2bd correspond to the
MoS
2
catalysts MSC12, MSC14, and MSC16, prepared
by in situ decomposition of LTAT, MTAT and CTAT
precursors. Analysis of these patterns identies the (002),
(100), (103), and (110) reections of MoS
2
2H. The low
intensity of the (002) reection suggests high dispersion
due to crystallites of only a few atomic layers, attributed to
the presence of carbon derived from the decomposition of
the organic solvent decalin and the carbon containing
precursors, in a way analogous to the high dispersion of
MoS
2
reported by others for carbon-supported MoS
2
cat-
alysts [20, 21]. Similar XRD patterns have been obtained
for chemically exfoliated MoS
2
and WS
2
catalysts [27, 28].
3.2.2 Elemental Analysis
The EDX analysis for all the in situ prepared molybdenum
disulde catalysts are reported in Table 2. The S/Mo
atomic ratio for all samples is around two (1.972.40),
which is consistent with a MoS
2
phase. High amounts of
carbon (3.80 B C/Mo B 6.50) are found in all the MoS
2
catalysts. The prime source of this carbon is most probably
the decalin solvent [29], especially in the case of the
catalyst prepared from ATTM, since it contains no carbon;
the greater carbon content of the MSC14 and MSC16
catalysts is thought to derive from the availability of the
precursors alkyl chains [15].
3.2.3 Surface Area and Pore Size Distribution
Table 2 lists the specic surface areas and total pore vol-
umes for MoS
2
catalysts produced by in situ decomposition
of the precursor series. All four catalysts present high
surface areas: the lowest surface area is 79 m
2
/g for the
MSC14 catalyst derived from MTAT, and the highest is
443 m
2
/g for MSC12, obtained from LTAT.
According to Table 2, the carbon content of the MoS
2
precursors has an important effect on the surface area and
the total pore volume of the catalysts. MoS
2
catalysts MS
C16 and MSC12 show surface areas 1.44.2 times greater
than that of MSH (104 m
2
/g) obtained from pure ATTM,
while total pore volume is 2.25.3 times greater than that of
MSH (0.09 cm
3
/g). Similar pore volume distributions,
centered on different pore sizes have been reported for
MoS
2
catalysts obtained from other alkyl-thiosalts [30].
The adsorption isotherms and pore volume distributions
for the prepared catalysts are shown in Figs. 3, 4, respec-
tively. All catalysts exhibit a Type IV isotherm with
desorption curves characteristic of mesoporous materials.
The MSH catalyst prepared from pure ATTM has a
poorly developed porous system. The MSC12, MSC14,
and MSC16 catalysts obtained from carbon-containing
precursors have better developed porous systems, with an
Top Catal (2011) 54:561567 563
1 3
average pore diameter of around 36 A