A solid-supported palladium(II) complex which catalyzes the Mizoroki-Heck coupling reaction efficiently and a method of employing the solid-supported palladium(II) complex to synthesize cinnamic acid and derivatives thereof. The solid-supported palladium(II) complex is also stable and can be recycled without significantly losing catalytic activity.

A carbonaceous material, based on the total weight of the carbonaceous material, contains 1-99 wt % of a carbon element, 0.2-60 wt % of a magnesium element, 0.5-60 wt % of an oxygen element and 0.1-40 wt % of a chlorine element. The process for preparing the carbonaceous materia1 include (1) Mixing a solid carbon source, a precursor and water to produce a mixture; wherein said precursor contains a magnesium source and a chlorine source; (2) Drying the resulting mixture obtained in Step (1) to produce a dried mixture; and (3) Calcining the dried mixture obtained in Step (2). The carbonaceous material can be used in catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons.

The invention relates to a catalyst, comprising a catalytic element disposed on a substrate, wherein said substrate has formula Ce.sub.1-xM.sub.xO.sub.2, wherein x is between about 0 and about 0.3, optionally between about 0.01 and about 0.3, and wherein M, if present, is a metallic element other than Ce, when used for catalysing a methanation reaction. There is also described use of the catalyst for catalysing a methanation reaction and a method for methanation of a feedstock including carbon monoxide and hydrogen, said method comprising contacting the feedstock with the catalyst.

A process and catalyst for the in situ generation of hydrogen via the microwave irradiation of a ruthenium chitosan composite catalyst has enabled the convenient reduction of nitro compounds in aqueous medium.

A process for preparing a catalyst includes impregnating a metal oxide carrier with an aqueous solution to form an impregnated carrier; drying the impregnated carrier to form a dried, impregnated carrier; and heat-treating the dried, impregnated carrier in air to form the catalyst; wherein: the aqueous solution includes a copper salt; and from about 3 wt % to about 15 wt % of a C.sub.3-C.sub.6 multifunctional carboxylic acid; and the catalyst includes from about 5 wt % to about 50 wt % copper oxide.

A method for making a solid material which is useful as a heterogeneous catalyst including the steps of: forming at least one copper oxide suspension comprising solid particles of copper oxide in a liquid; forming at least one carrier suspension comprising solid particles of a carrier material in a liquid; combining the copper oxide suspension and the carrier suspension; subjecting the combined suspensions to mechanical energy; separating the suspension liquid from the solid particles in the combined suspension; and subjecting the solid material to a thermal decomposition step. A catalyst made by the method has a BET surface area greater than 150 m.sup.2/g, a particle size distribution in which D50 is in the range from 25-35 m, and wherein the D50 after 60 minutes ultrasound treatment is at least 30% of the original value.

A method for manufacturing a photosemiconductor according to the present disclosure includes: forming an oxide on a base material, the oxide containing at least one kind of transition metal; and preparing a photosemiconductor containing the transition metal and a nitrogen element from the oxide by subjecting the oxide to a treatment with a plasma of a nitrogen-containing gas which is generated at a frequency in a VHF range under a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure.

An oxidation catalyst is described for treating an exhaust gas produced by a diesel engine. The oxidation catalyst comprises: a substrate; a capture material for capturing at least one sulfur containing impurity in the exhaust gas produced by the diesel engine; wherein the capture material comprises a metal for reacting with an oxide of sulfur in the exhaust gas and particles of a refractory oxide, wherein the particles of the refractory oxide have a mean specific surface area 50 m.sup.2/g; and a catalytic region disposed on the substrate; wherein the catalytic region comprises a catalytic material comprising a platinum group metal (PGM) selected from the group consisting of platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd) and a combination of platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd).

Catalytic materials, particularly membranes, exhibiting high activity, high stability and low metal leaching in a variety of chemical reactions, particularly selective hydrogenations of unsaturated organic compounds, are described. These membranes are inorganic/polymeric hybrid materials in which metal complex molecular catalysts are immobilized or metal nano-particle catalysts are embedded. More specifically, the catalytic materials of the present invention exhibit higher activity and selectivity, and can be used in more extensive kinds of organic solvents than the conventional hybrid catalytic materials due to improvement in the affinity to organic solvents by containing the specific polymeric additives.

This invention is directed to novel mixed transition metal iron (II/III) catalysts for the extraction of oxygen from CO.sub.2 and the selective reaction with organic compounds.