Influence of Lewis acidity of rhenium heptoxide supported on alumina catalyst on the catalytic performances in olefin metathesis Original Research Article

Characterisation of surface acidity of the Re2O7/Al2O3 catalyst by infrared spectroscopy and ammonia thermodesorption reveals that the initiation and the good processing of the metathesis reaction is essentially governed by Lewis acidity. This strongly supports the role of Lewis acidity quantified by pyridine and lutidine adsorption, which is exalted by the increase of the rhenium content and the calcination temperature and the concomitant increase of the metathesis activity.