Abstract
Active species in catalytic systems include many oxidation states of metal ions, and free radicals. The information derived from the spectra varies from structure to dynamics. EPR is well suited to in situ studies: the hardware necessary to reach the temperatures and pressures common to catalysis is well within reach, and quite a few strategies have been developed to gather information about chemical systems. These include the capture and preservation of short-lived radicals by spin trapping, and the tracing of reaction pathways via the use of isotopic labeling. The technique is compatible with various ways of creating operando conditions, including plug flow reactor sample cells, in situ photolysis and electrochemistry.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Lunsford, J.: EPR methods in heterogeneous catalysis. In: Catalysis, pp. 227–256. Springer (1987)
Louis, C., Lepetit, C., Che, M.: EPR characterization of oxide supported transition metal ions: relevance to catalysis. In: Radicals on Surfaces, pp. 3–38. Springer (1995)
Sojka, Z.: Molecular aspects of catalytic reactivity. Application of EPR spectroscopy to studies of the mechanism of heterogeneous catalytic reactions. Catal. Rev. 37, 461–512 (1995)
Werst, D., Han, P., Trifunac, A.: Radiation chemical studies in zeolites: radical cations and zeolite catalysis. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 51 (1998)
Sojka, Z., Che, M.: Catalytic chemistry of transition metal ions on oxide surfaces. A molecular approach using EPR techniques. C. R. Acad. Sci. 3, 163–174 (2000)
Labanowska, M.: EPR monitoring of redox processes in transition metal oxide catalysts. ChemPhysChem. 2, 712–731 (2001)
Van Doorslaer, S., Murphy, D.M.: EPR spectroscopy in catalysis. In: EPR Spectroscopy, pp. 1–39. Springer (2011)
Drescher, M.: EPR Spectroscopy: Applications in Chemistry and Biology. Springer (2012)
Goswami, M., Chirila, A., Rebreyend, C., de Bruin, B.: EPR spectroscopy as a tool in homogeneous catalysis research. Top. Catal. 58, 719–750 (2015)
Hao, Z., Fen, L., Lu, G., Liu, J., An, L., Wang, H.: In situ electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of surface oxygen species on Au/Zno catalyst for low-temperature carbon monoxide oxidation. Appl. Catal. A Gen. 213, 173–177 (2001)
Hunger, M., Weitkamp, J.: In situ IR, NMR, EPR, and UV/Vis spectroscopy: tools for new insight into the mechanisms of heterogeneous catalysis. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 40, 2954–2971 (2001)
Brückner, A.: Monitoring transition metal ions (TMI) in oxide catalysts during (re) action: the power of operando EPR. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 5, 4461–4472 (2003)
Zykwinska, A., Domagala, W., Czardybon, A., Pilawa, B., Lapkowski, M.: In situ EPR spectroelectrochemical studies of paramagnetic centres in poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT) and poly (3, 4-butylenedioxythiophene)(PBuDOT) films. Chem. Phys. 292, 31–45 (2003)
Panchenko, A., Dilger, H., Kerres, J., Hein, M., Ullrich, A., Kaz, T., Roduner, E.: In-situ spin trap electron paramagnetic resonance study of fuel cell processes. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 6, 2891–2894 (2004)
Weckhuysen, B. M., In-Situ Spectroscopy of Catalysts. American Scientific Publishers, Valencia, California (2004)
Brückner, A.: In situ electron paramagnetic resonance: a unique tool for analyzing structure–reactivity relationships in heterogeneous catalysis. Chem. Soc. Rev. 39, 4673–4684 (2010)
Risse, T., Hollmann, D., Brückner, A.: In Situ Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR)–a Unique Tool for Analysing Structure and Reaction Behaviour of Paramagnetic Sites in Model and Real Catalysts, vol. 27. The Royal Society of Chemistry London (2015)
Prokopchuk, D.E., Wiedner, E.S., Walter, E.D., Popescu, C.V., Piro, N.A., Kassel, W.S., Bullock, R.M., Mock, M.T.: Catalytic N2 reduction to silylamines and thermodynamics of N2 binding at square planar Fe. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 9291–9301 (2017)
Stoll, S., Schweiger, A.: Easyspin, a comprehensive software package for spectral simulation and analysis in EPR. J. Magn. Reson. 178, 42–55 (2006)
Kim, K.H., Dutta, T., Walter, E.D., Isern, N.G., Cort, J.R., Simmons, B.A., Singh, S.: Chemoselective methylation of phenolic hydroxyl group prevents quinone methide formation and repolymerization during lignin depolymerization. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 5, 3913–3919 (2017)
Bromberg, S.E., Chan, I.: Enhanced sensitivity for high-pressure EPR using dielectric resonators. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 63, 3670–3673 (1992)
Jaworski, M., Checiński, K., Bujnowski, W., Porowski, S.: High-pressure EPR cavity. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 49, 383–384 (1978)
Batchelor, S., Henningsen, B., Fischer, H.: EPR of transient free radicals during photochemical reactions in high temperature and pressure gases. Chem. A Eur. J. 101, 2969–2972 (1997)
Mendt, M., Vervoorts, P., Schneemann, A., Fischer, R.A., Pöppl, A.: Probing local structural changes at Cu2+ in a flexible mixed-metal metal-organic framework by in situ electron paramagnetic resonance during Co2 ad-and desorption. J. Phys. Chem. C. 123, 2940–2952 (2019)
Hogben, H., Krzystyniak, M., Charnock, G., Hore, P., Kuprov, I.: Spinach–a software library for simulation of spin dynamics in large spin systems. J. Magn. Reson. 208, 179–194 (2011)
Hanson, G.R., Gates, K.E., Noble, C.J., Griffin, M., Mitchell, A., Benson, S., Xsophe-Sophe-Xeprview®: A computer simulation software suite (V. 1.1. 3) for the analysis of continuous wave EPR spectra. J. Inorg. Biochem. 98, 903–916 (2004)
Bou-Abdallah, F., Chasteen, N.D.: Spin concentration measurements of high-spin (G′= 4.3) rhombic iron (iii) ions in biological samples: theory and application. J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 13, 15–24 (2008)
Dyrek, K., Rokosz, A., Madej, A.: Spin dosimetry in catalysis research. Appl. Magn. Reson. 6, 309–332 (1994)
Eaton, G.R., Eaton, S.S., Barr, D.P., Weber, R.T.: Quantitative EPR. Springer Science & Business Media (2010)
Eaton, S.S., Eaton, G.R.: Signal area measurements in EPR. Bull. Magn. Reson. 1, 130–138 (1980)
Madej, A., Dyrek, K., Mattusch, J.: Preparation and evaluation of the quality of standards for quantitative EPR measurements of spin concentration. Fresenius J. Anal. Chem. 341, 707–708 (1991)
Zhang, Y., Peng, Y., Li, J., Groden, K., McEwen, J.-S., Walter, E.D., Chen, Y., Wang, Y., Gao, F.: Probing active-site relocation in Cu/SSZ-13 SCR catalysts during hydrothermal aging by in situ EPR spectroscopy, kinetics studies, and DFT calculations. ACS Catal. 10, 9410–9419 (2020)
Eaton, S.S., More, K.M., Sawant, B.M., Eaton, G.R.: Use of the ESR half-field transition to determine the interspin distance and the orientation of the interspin vector in systems with two unpaired electrons. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 105, 6560–6567 (1983)
Kutin, Y., Cox, N., Lubitz, W., Schnegg, A., Rüdiger, O.: In situ EPR characterization of a cobalt oxide water oxidation catalyst at neutral pH. Catalysts. 9, 926 (2019)
Hug, G.L., Camaioni, D.M., Carmichael, I.: EPR detection of Hno2•-in the radiolysis of aqueous nitrite and quantum chemical calculation of its stability and hyperfine parameters. Chem. A Eur. J. 108, 6599–6604 (2004)
Ohno, K.: Reaction kinetics with rapid mixing. EPR Imag. In Vivo EPR, 175–180 (2018)
Augusto, O., Goldstein, S., Hurst, J.K., Lind, J., Lymar, S.V., Merenyi, G., Radi, R.: Carbon dioxide-catalyzed peroxynitrite reactivity–the resilience of the radical mechanism after two decades of research. J Free Radic. Biol. Med. 135, 210 (2019)
Huang, X., Chen, Y., Walter, E., Zong, M., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Qafoku, O., Wang, Z., Rosso, K.M.: Facet-specific photocatalytic degradation of organics by heterogeneous fenton chemistry on hematite nanoparticles. Environ. Sci. Technol. 53, 10197–10207 (2019)
Frejaville, C., Karoui, H., Tuccio, B., le Moigne, F., Culcasi, M., Pietri, S., Lauricella, R., Tordo, P.: 5-Diethoxyphosphoryl-5-methyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DEPMPO): a new phosphorylated nitrone for the efficient in vitro and in vivo spin trapping of oxygen-centred radicals. J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun., 1793–1794 (1994)
Yang, X., Cao, Y., Yu, H., Huang, H., Wang, H., Peng, F.: Unravelling the radical transition during the carbon-catalyzed oxidation of cyclohexane by in situ electron paramagnetic resonance in the liquid phase. Cat. Sci. Technol. 7, 4431–4436 (2017)
Chou, P.-W., Song, J.-M., Xie, Z.-Y., Akaike, M., Suga, T., Fujino, M., Lin, J.-Y.: Low temperature de-oxidation for copper surface by catalyzed formic acid vapor. Appl. Surf. Sci. 456, 890–898 (2018)
Duan, X., Su, C., Miao, J., Zhong, Y., Shao, Z., Wang, S., Sun, H.: Insights into perovskite-catalyzed peroxymonosulfate activation: maneuverable cobalt sites for promoted evolution of sulfate radicals. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 220, 626–634 (2018)
Duan, X., Li, W., Ao, Z., Kang, J., Tian, W., Zhang, H., Ho, S.-H., Sun, H., Wang, S.: Origins of boron catalysis in peroxymonosulfate activation and advanced oxidation. J. Mater. Chem. A. 7, 23904–23913 (2019)
Li, D., Duan, X., Sun, H., Kang, J., Zhang, H., Tade, M.O., Wang, S.: Facile synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene via low-temperature pyrolysis: the effects of precursors and annealing ambience on metal-free catalytic oxidation. Carbon. 115, 649–658 (2017)
Wei, Z., Villamena, F.A., Weavers, L.K.: Kinetics and mechanism of ultrasonic activation of persulfate: An in situ EPR spin trapping study. Environ. Sci. Technol. 51, 3410–3417 (2017)
Tan, C., Dong, Y., Shi, L., Chen, Q., Yang, S., Liu, X., Ling, J., He, X., Fu, D.: Degradation of Orange II in ferrous activated peroxymonosulfate system: efficiency, situ EPR spin trapping and degradation pathway study. J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng. 83, 74–81 (2018)
Mendoza, C., Désert, A., Khrouz, L., Páez, C.A., Parola, S., Heinrichs, B.: Heterogeneous singlet oxygen generation: in-operando visible light EPR spectroscopy. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 28(20), 25124–25129 (2019)
Janzen, E.G., Wang, Y.Y.: Spin trapping with immobilized spin traps. poly (P [. alpha.-(N-tert-butylnitronyl)] styrene). J. Phys. Chem. 83, 894–896 (1979)
Kuno, N., Sakakibara, K., Hirota, M., Kogane, T.: A new polymer-incorporated spin-trapping reagent aimed at environmental use. Reactions with organic free radicals. React. Funct. Polym. 43, 43–51 (2000)
Earla, A., Walter, E.D., Braslau, R.: Synthesis and spin trapping properties of polystyrene supported trifluoromethylated cyclic nitrones. Free Radic. Res. 53, 1084–1100 (2019)
Khramtsov, V.V., Reznikov, V.A., Berliner, L.J., Litkin, A.K., Grigor’ev, I.A., Clanton, T.L.: NMR spin trapping: detection of free radical reactions with a new fluorinated DMPO analog. Free Radic. Biol. Med. 30, 1099–1107 (2001)
Chattopadhyay, M., Walter, E.D., Newell, D.J., Jackson, P.J., Aronoff-Spencer, E., Peisach, J., Gerfen, G.J., Bennett, B., Antholine, W.E., Millhauser, G.L.: The octarepeat domain of the prion protein binds Cu (II) with three distinct coordination modes at pH 7.4. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 12647–12656 (2005)
Wang, F., Büchel, R., Savitsky, A., Zalibera, M., Widmann, D., Pratsinis, S.E., Lubitz, W., Schüth, F.: In situ EPR study of the redox properties of CuO–CeO2 catalysts for preferential CO oxidation (PROX). ACS Catal. 6, 3520–3530 (2016)
Prokopchuk, D.E., Chambers, G.M., Walter, E.D., Mock, M.T., Bullock, R.M.: H2 binding, splitting, and net hydrogen atom transfer at a paramagnetic iron complex. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 1871–1876 (2019)
Aboukaïs, A., Bennani, A., Aïssi, C.F., Wrobel, G., Guelton, M., Vedrine, J.C.: Highly resolved electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum of copper (II) ion pairs in CuCe oxide. J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 88, 615–620 (1992)
Grauke, R., Schepper, R., Rabeah, J., Schoch, R., Bentrup, U., Bauer, M., Brückner, A.: Impact of Al activators on structure and catalytic performance of Cr catalysts in homogeneous ethylene oligomerization–a multitechnique in situ/operando study. ChemCatChem. 12(4), 1025–1035 (2020)
Morra, E., Martino, G.A., Piovano, A., Barzan, C., Groppo, E., Chiesa, M.: In situ X-and Q-band EPR investigation of ethylene polymerization on Cr/SiO2 Phillips catalyst. J. Phys. Chem. C. 122, 21531–21536 (2018)
Yin, L., Zhang, J., Yao, J., Li, H.: A designed tempo-derivate catalyst with switchable signals of EPR and photoluminescence: application in the mechanism of alcohol oxidation. ChemCatChem. 10, 3513–3519 (2018)
Qi, L., Chamas, A., Jones, Z.R., Walter, E.D., Hoyt, D.W., Washton, N.M., Scott, S.L.: Unraveling the dynamic network in the reactions of an alkyl aryl ether catalyzed by Ni/Γ-Al2O3 in 2-propanol. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 17370–17381 (2019)
Walter, E.D., Qi, L., Chamas, A., Mehta, H.S., Sears, J.A., Scott, S.L., Hoyt, D.W.: Operando MAS NMR reaction studies at high temperatures and pressures. J. Phys. Chem. C. 122, 8209–8215 (2018)
Lu, Q., Zhang, J., Peng, P., Zhang, G., Huang, Z., Yi, H., Miller, J.T., Lei, A.: Operando X-ray absorption and EPR evidence for a single electron redox process in copper catalysis. Chem. Sci. 6, 4851–4854 (2015)
Wang, Q., Zheng, J., Walter, E., Pan, H., Lv, D., Zuo, P., Chen, H., Deng, Z.D., Liaw, B.Y., Yu, X.: Direct observation of sulfur radicals as reaction media in lithium sulfur batteries. J. Electrochem. Soc. 162, A474–A478 (2015)
Ali, M.A., Hassan, A., Sedenho, G.C., Gonçalves, R.V., Cardoso, D.R., Crespilho, F.N.: Operando electron paramagnetic resonance for elucidating the electron transfer mechanism of coenzymes. J. Phys. Chem. C. 123, 16058–16064 (2019)
Neukermans, S., Hereijgers, J., Ching, H.V., Samanipour, M., Van Doorslaer, S., Hubin, A., Breugelmans, T.: A continuous in-situ EPR electrochemical reactor as a rapid in-depth mechanistic screening tool for electrocatalysis. Electrochem. Commun. 97, 42–45 (2018)
Kanan, M.W., Nocera, D.G.: In situ formation of an oxygen-evolving catalyst in neutral water containing phosphate and Co2+. Science. 321, 1072–1075 (2008)
Nefed’ev, E., Musin, K., Mirakova, T.Y., Kadirov, M., Aminov, K., Salikhov, K., Silaev, V.: EPR imaging study of paramagnetic centre distribution in thiokol-epoxy hermetics. Appl. Magn. Reson. 11, 115–123 (1996)
Ulbricht, K., Ewert, U., Herrling, T., Thiessenhusen, K., Aebli, G., Völter, J., Schneider, W.: EPR imaging on zeolites and zeolite catalysts. EPR Imag. In Vivo EPR, 241–250 (2018)
Spitzbarth, M., Scherer, A., Schachtschneider, A., Imming, P., Polarz, S., Drescher, M.: Time-, spectral-and spatially resolved EPR spectroscopy enables simultaneous monitoring of diffusion of different guest molecules in nano-pores. J. Magn. Reson. 283, 45–51 (2017)
Shevelev, G.Y., Krumkacheva, O.A., Lomzov, A.A., Kuzhelev, A.A., Rogozhnikova, O.Y., Trukhin, D.V., Troitskaya, T.I., Tormyshev, V.M., Fedin, M.V., Pyshnyi, D.V.: Physiological-temperature distance measurement in nucleic acid using triarylmethyl-based spin labels and pulsed dipolar EPR spectroscopy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 9874–9877 (2014)
Meyer, V., Swanson, M.A., Clouston, L.J., Boratyński, P.J., Stein, R.A., Mchaourab, H.S., Rajca, A., Eaton, S.S., Eaton, G.R.: Room-temperature distance measurements of immobilized spin-labeled protein by DEER/PELDOR. Biophys. J. 108, 1213–1219 (2015)
Kuzhelev, A.A., Strizhakov, R.K., Krumkacheva, O.A., Polienko, Y.F., Morozov, D.A., Shevelev, G.Y., Pyshnyi, D.V., Kirilyuk, I.A., Fedin, M.V., Bagryanskaya, E.G.: Room-temperature electron spin relaxation of nitroxides immobilized in trehalose: effect of substituents adjacent to no-group. J. Magn. Reson. 266, 1–7 (2016)
Cruickshank, P.A., Bolton, D.R., Robertson, D.A., Hunter, R.I., Wylde, R.J., Smith, G.M.: A kilowatt pulsed 94 Ghz electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer with high concentration sensitivity, high instantaneous bandwidth, and low dead time. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 80, 103102 (2009)
Raitsimring, A., Astashkin, A., Enemark, J., Kaminker, I., Goldfarb, D., Walter, E., Song, Y., Meade, T.J.: Optimization of pulsed-DEER measurements for Gd-based labels: choice of operational frequencies, pulse durations and positions, and temperature. Appl. Magn. Reson. 44, 649–670 (2013)
Harchol, A., Reuveni, G., Ri, V., Thomas, B., Carmieli, R., Herber, R.H., Kim, C., Leskes, M.: Endogenous dynamic nuclear polarization for sensitivity enhancement in solid-state NMR of electrode materials. J. Phys. Chem. C. 124, 7082–7090 (2020)
Wenk, P., Kaushik, M., Richter, D., Vogel, M., Suess, B., Corzilius, B.: Dynamic nuclear polarization of nucleic acid with endogenously bound manganese. J. Biomol. NMR. 63, 97–109 (2015)
Wolf, T., Kumar, S., Singh, H., Chakrabarty, T., Aussenac, F., Frenkel, A.I., Major, D.T., Leskes, M.: Endogenous dynamic nuclear polarization for natural abundance 17O and lithium NMR in the bulk of inorganic solids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 451–462 (2018)
Mitchell, N., Kalber, T.L., Cooper, M.S., Sunassee, K., Chalker, S.L., Shaw, K.P., Ordidge, K.L., Badar, A., Janes, S.M., Blower, P.J.: Incorporation of paramagnetic, fluorescent and PET/SPECT contrast agents into liposomes for multimodal imaging. Biomaterials. 34, 1179–1192 (2013)
Boś-Liedke, A., Walawender, M., Woźniak, A., Flak, D., Gapiński, J., Jurga, S., Kucińska, M., Plewiński, A., Murias, M., Elewa, M.: EPR oximetry sensor—developing a tam derivative for in vivo studies. Cell Biochem. Biophys. 76, 19–28 (2018)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Walter, E. (2023). Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR). In: Wachs, I.E., Bañares, M.A. (eds) Springer Handbook of Advanced Catalyst Characterization. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07125-6_38
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07125-6_38
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-07124-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-07125-6
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)