On the Spatial Design of Co-Fed Amines for Selective Dehydration of Methyl Lactate to Acrylates

Co-feeding an inert and site-selective chemical titrant provides desirable selectivity tuning when titrant adsorption is favored over side reaction pathways on a solid acid catalyst. Here, a selectivity enhancement from 61 to 84 C % was demonstrated for methyl lactate dehydration to methyl acrylate and acrylic acid over a NaY zeolite catalyst using amines as the co-fed titrants to suppress side reactions on in situ-generated Brønsted acid sites (BASs). The effectiveness of BAS titration was evaluated by considering both the basicity and steric properties of the titrant molecule with the goal to maximize the selectivity enhancement. The presence of electron-donating alkyl functional groups not only enhances amine basicity but also introduces additional steric constraints to the molecule with respect to the pore dimensions of the NaY zeolite. While higher basicity of titrant amines favors stronger adsorption on BASs, steric limitations hinder site binding through contributions from internal diffusion limitations and local steric repulsion between the titrant and the zeolite wall around the BAS. Titrant bases with proton affinities above ∼1040 kJ/mol and sizes below 85% of the NaY supercage window or pore diameter are predicted to afford dehydration selectivities above 90 C % to acrylate products.