Tetrahedral Nickel(II) Phosphosilicate Single‐Site Selective Propane Dehydrogenation Catalyst

Abstract Silica‐supported Ni catalysts usually show poor stability, low selectivity, and short lifetime in high‐temperature alkane dehydrogenation reactions owing to the reduction to Ni 0 nanoparticles under the reaction conditions. The introduction of a phosphate ligand to silica‐supported Ni II provided single‐site tetrahedral Ni II phosphosilicate as a stable and selective propane dehydrogenation catalyst. The Ni II −OSi bonds activate the C−H bonds of propane and make the Ni II sites catalytically active, whereas the Ni−OP bonds prevent the reduction of Ni II to Ni 0 under the dehydrogenation conditions and help to achieve high stability and selectivity.