Toluene oxidation with triple-module cooperativity in an atomically precise Cu₄Pt₂(C≡CCyOH)₈ catalyst.

Authors

Shisi Tang, Chenyang Shen, Qingxi Zhai, Yiqi Tian, Mingchen Han, Dan Luo, Gongde Wu, Xiuwen Wang, Weiping Ding, Yan Zhu

Published in

National science review. Volume 13. Issue 13. Pages nwag328. Epub May 29, 2026.

Abstract

The dismantling and reassembly of C(sp ³)-H bonds in hydrocarbons over both heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts remain a fundamental challenge. Here, we report the toluene oxidation using an atomically precise Cu₄Pt₂(C≡CCyOH)₈ cluster (HC≡CCyOH = 1-ethynyl-1-cyclohexanol) as the electrocatalyst with an exclusive selectivity for benzaldehyde accompanied by >99% Faradaic efficiency. Results reveal the systematic cooperativity of three functional modules combined into one cluster catalyst for six temporally subsequent events: the hydroxyl ligand of this cluster can capture water and then release it to the Cu sites, and water is sequentially activated on the Cu sites to form OH radicals; Pt sites engage in the abstraction of a hydrogen atom from the methyl group of toluene; the OH radicals then flip over to the Pt sites and react with dehydro-toluene to produce benzaldehyde, which is finally disentangled from the active sites with the help of the ligand. Meanwhile, the cluster is also used to catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction at the cathode and exhibits much higher activity for hydrogen production than a typical Pt/C catalyst. Our study presents a molecular approach for designing highly active and selective catalysts for efficient inert molecule-involved reactions.

PMID:
42465565
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.