title: Thermal non-oxidative aromatization of light alkanes catalyzed by gallium nitride.
abstract: The thermal catalytic activity of GaN in non-oxidative alkane dehydroaromatization has been discovered for the first time. The origin of the catalytic activity was studied experimentally and theoretically. Commercially available GaN powders with a wurtzite crystal structure showed superior stability and reactivity for converting light alkanes, including methane, propane, n-butane, n-hexane and cyclohexane into benzene at an elevated temperature with high selectivity. The catalyst is highly robust and can be used repeatedly without noticeable deactivation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and FQRNT Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CCVC), McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B8 (Canada); Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 3480 University Street, Montreal, QC H3A 0E9 (Canada).
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaoyue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xianghua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Shizhao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Zetian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.forename: Chao-Jun
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: CH activation; alkanes; density functional calculations; gallium; heterogeneous catalysis