With the support of the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, Professor Marsh and his undergraduate student coworkers in the Department of Chemistry at Lebanon Valley College are examining the catalytic chemistry of ligand stabilized platinum nanoparticles. They are investigating the rate and selectivity of ketone hydrogenation reactions in the liquid phase, as a function of ketone structure, reaction conditions, catalyst particle size and morphology, and temperature. Using attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy, they are examining the mechanisms and intermediates that form in this catalytic process. A clearer fundamental understanding of the catalytic hydrogenation of substituted ketones will result from this work, along with the hands-on training of chemistry undergraduates in modern research in catalysis and nanomaterials.
The effect of particle size and morphology for nanoscale platinum catalysts on the kinetics and selectivity of ketone hydrogenation reactions is the focus of this research project. With the support of the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, Marsh and coworkers are examining the rate and product distribution in the hydrogenation of various substituted ketones. Spectroscopic and kinetic studies are combined in this study of catalytic chemistry carried out primarily by undergraduate researchers.
