Ion-Exchanged Binuclear Clusters As Active Sites of Selective Oxidation over Zeolites

A new catalytic oxidation cycle over binuclear Zn- and Ca-cation clusters in zeolites is proposed. Intermediate active clusters appear due to trapping of dioxygen. CO oxidation is considered as a model reaction over a cluster located in an 8-membered (8R) ring. Geometries of active clusters involved in the catalytic cycle vary depending on the nature and size of the cation. Reagents, transition states, and products have been optimized at the isolated cluster level considering DFT functionals (B3LYP, B3P86, and B3PW91) with the 6-31G* or 6-311++G** basis sets. Moderate activation energies of 23.0 and 35.7 kcal/mol at the B3LYP/6-31G* level are obtained for CO, oxidation over Zn- and Ca-clusters, respectively.