High catalytic performance of 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene in α-pinene isomerization to camphene

[Display omitted] •Ti3C2Tx MXenes are active in isomerization of α-pinene.•Exfoliated Ti3C2Tx exhibited higher activity then multilayered Ti3C2Tx.•The isomerization of α-pinene over Ti3C2Tx MXenes followed the first-order kinetics.•Highest reported selectivity and conversion reported in current state of the art. This work demonstrates a catalytic activity of MXene materials in the isomerization of α-pinene. The temperature influence, catalyst content and reaction time on α-pinene conversion have been revealed. Furthermore, the selectivity of transformation to appropriate products have been investigated. The multilayered and exfoliated Ti3C2Tx have been examined. Both studied MXene materials were active in α-pinene isomerization. However, the exfoliated Ti3C2Tx increased the activity significantly. As a result, an outstanding 100 mol% conversion of α-pinene in 7 h was achieved. It was observed that at optimal operating conditions and catalyst content the selectivity resulted in ∼ 60 mol% toward camphene formation. Additionally, the kinetics of the process has been described. Here, the analysis indicates that the kinetics of α-pinene isomerization over MXene samples was described by first-order kinetics. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest reported selectivity and conversion reported in the current state of the art.