Abstract
The activation of methyl acetate (CH3COOCH3; MA) has been studied using periodic density functional theory calculations to probe the effect of Pd surface structure on the selectivity in MA activation. The adsorption of MA, dehydrogenated derivatives, enolate (CH2COOCH3; ENL) and methylene acetate (CH3COOCH2; MeA), and several dissociation products (including acetate, acetyl, ketene, methoxy, formaldehyde, CO, C, O, and H); and C-H and C-O (mainly in the RCO-OR’ position) bond dissociation in MA, ENL, and MeA, are calculated on Pd(111) terrace, step, and kink; and on Pd(100) terrace and step. The adsorption of most species is not strongly affected between (111)- to (100)-type surfaces, but is clearly enhanced by step/kink compared to the corresponding terrace. Going from terrace to step edge and from (111)- to (100)-type surfaces both stabilize the transition states of C-O bond dissociation steps. Going from terrace to step edge also stabilizes the transition states of C-H bond dissociation steps, but going from (111)- to (100)-type surfaces does not clearly do so. We propose that compared to the Pd(111) terrace, the Pd(100) terrace is more selective for C-O bond dissociation that is desirable for alcohol formation, whereas the Pd step edges are more selective for C-H bond dissociation.