The Effect of Surface Functional Groups on Hydrogenation of Aromatic Amines Over Supported Ru Catalysts

ABSTRACT The Ru/OSNMC, Ru/SNMC, Ru/OCSC, and Ru/CSC catalysts (5% wt) were prepared by the impregnation method. It was found that both the doped N and surface O‐containing functional groups increased the dispersion and the electron charge density of supported Ru, leading to the stronger adsorption of toluene and H 2 on Ru, and thus the increased intrinsic activity (TOF) for the hydrogenation of toluene on Ru. The preadsorption of triethylamine (TEA) inhibited the adsorption of toluene and H 2 and thus decreased the hydrogenation activity of toluene on Ru. However, the doped N atoms decreased the adsorption strength of TEA and weakened the inhibition effect of TEA on the hydrogenation of toluene on Ru, while the surface O‐containing functional groups played the opposite role. Thus, it is expected that the doped N atoms are beneficial to the hydrogenation of aromatic amines on Ru/C catalysts, while the surface O‐containing functional groups seem to play conflicting roles on the hydrogenation of aromatic amines.