Method for modifying the dispersion characteristics of metal...

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Reexamination Certificate

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C106S031920, C252S062550, C427S216000, C423S219000, C428S570000, C429S047000, C502S173000, C516S033000, C516S078000, C516S097000, C604S113000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06531304

ABSTRACT:

This application is a 371 of PCT/EP99/03319, which was filed on May 14, 1999.
The present invention relates to the preparation of nanoscale transition metal or alloy colloids having a high dispersibility in different solvents, to the colloids thus obtained and their use.
Nanoscale transition metal or alloy colloids are of technical importance as precursors of homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical catalysts, as catalysts in fuel cell technology, further as materials for coating surfaces (especially in lithography and in touch-sensing technology), as ferrofluids, e.g., in vacuum-tight rotational bushings, in active vibration dampers (automobile construction), and in tumor control using magnetically induced hyperthermia. They further serve as starting materials in sol/gel technology.
The technically advantageous universal use of nanostructured monometal and multimetal particles requires the decomposition-free redispersibility of the metal particles in a high metal concentration in a wide range of hydrophobic and hydrophilic solvents including water.
There have been many attempts to selectively change the dispersing properties of nanoscale transition metal or alloy colloids. Thus, G. Schmid et al. and C. Larpent et al. as well as N. Toshima et al. describe the conversion of hydrophobic metal colloids to water-soluble colloid systems by exchanging hydrophobic with hydrophilic protective shells through extractive ligand exchange at the interface between the organic and aqueous phases [e.g., G. Schmid et al., Polyhedron Vol. 7 (1988) p. 605-608; G. Schmid, Polyhedron Vol. 7 (1988) p. 2321; C. Larpent et al., J. Mol. Catal., 65 (1991) L 35; N. Toshima et al., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. (1992), p. 1095]. However, this kind of protective shell exchange allows only for the replacement of hydrophobic by hydrophilic ligands and vice versa, but does not enable the decomposition-free redispersibility of the metal particles in a high metal concentration in a wide range of hydrophobic and hydrophilic solvents including water. Thus, the problem of repeptization of nanoscale transition metal or alloy colloids in any solvents cannot be solved by ligand exchange. For the stabilization of metal, metal oxide and metal sulfide colloids, Antonietti et al. (PCT/EP 96/00721, WO 96/26004) use block copolymers as micelle builders in organic (e.g., toluene, cyclohexane, THF) or inorganic solvents (e.g., water, liquid ammonia). The nature of the respective side chains of the micelles restricts the solubility of the colloids to either organic or inorganic media. Thus, this way does not enable a broad solubility range either.
Chagnon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,573) describes the preparation of electrically conducting superparamagnetic colloidal dispersions from solid magnetic particles by adsorptive coating with (water-stable) organometallics, e.g., Sn(C
2
H
5
)
4
, in water, followed by reaction with dispersing aids (e.g., surfactants) and addition of an organic carrier liquid, such as toluene. This method does not result in isolatable metal colloids and is not applicable to precious metals (see Comparative Example 4).
It has been the object of the present invention to provide a process which overcomes the above mentioned difficulties and enables the selective modification of the dispersing properties of nanoscale transition metal or alloy colloids for a decomposition-free repeptization of the colloids, modified and isolated with retention of the size distribution, in any desired hydrophobic or hydrophilic solvents including water for further technical processing in as high as possible a concentration.
It has now been found that colloids which are dispersible in a wide range of hydrophobic and hydrophilic solvents including water are formed by reading reactive metal-carbon bonds in the protective shell of organometallic-prestabilized transition metal or alloy colloids, prepared by known synthetic methods, of metals of Periodic Table groups 6 to 11 [e.g., K. Ziegler, Brennstoffchemie 35 (1954) p. 322, cf. K. Ziegler, W. R. Kroll, W. Larbig, O. W. Steudel, Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 629 (1960) p. 74, and Houben-Weyl, Methoden der organischen Chemie, E. Müller (ed.), Volume 13/4, Thieme Verlag Stuttgart (1970) p. 41; J. S. Bradley, E. Hill, M. E. Leonowic, H. Witzke, J. Mol. Catal. 41 (1987) p. 59-74; J. Barrault, M. Blanchart, A. Derouault, M. Kisbi, M. I. Zaki, J. Mol. Catal. 93 (1994) p. 289-304] or of organometallic-prestabilized and organometallic-pretreated transition metal or alloy colloids (Periodic Table groups 6 to 11) presynthesized by known synthetic methods [e.g., J. S. Bradley, Clusters and Coloids, Ed.: G. Schmid, VCH Weinheim (1994) p. 459-536], hereinafter referred to as starting materials, with a chemical modifier. Suitable chemical modifiers include materials capable of protolysis of metal-carbon bonds [cf. F. A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson; Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 4th ed. (1980) p. 344; Ch. Eischenbroich, A. Salzer; Organometallchemie, B. G. Teubner, Stuttgart (1986) p. 93] or of insertion of C/C, C/N or C/O multiple bonds in metal-carbon bonds [G. Wilkinson, F. G. A. Stone; Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry, Vol. 1, Pergamon Press, Oxford (1982) p. 637, p. 645, p. 651] or of Lewis acid-base interactions with metal carbon bonds [Ch. Elschenbroich, A. Salzer; B. G. Teubner, Stuttgart (1986) p. 95; G. Wilkinson, F. G. A. Stone; Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry, Vol. 1, Pergamon Press, Oxford (1982) p. 595].
The starting materials can be prepared by reacting metal salts, halides, pseudohalides, alcoholates, carboxylates or acetylacetonates of metals of Periodic Table groups 6 to 11 with protolyzable organometallic compounds. Alternatively, for preparing the starting materials, colloids of transition metals of Periodic Table groups 6 to 11 synthesized by other methods, e.g., precious-metal anticorrosion-protected colloids of Fe, Co, Ni or their alloys, may be reacted with organometallic compounds. The protective shell of the thus prepared colloidal starting materials contains reactive metal-carbon bonds which can react with the modifiers (see Example 1, protolysis experiment). Non-colloidal solid metal particles or powders (cf. Chagnon, U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,573) cannot be reacted by the process according to the invention (Comparative Examples 1, 2 and 3). Suitable organometallic compounds include protolyzable organoelement compounds of metals of Periodic Table groups 1 or 2 and 12 and 13.
Suitable chemical modifiers with which these organometallic-prestabilized starting materials are reacted to achieve a high dispersibility (at least 20 mmol of metal per liter, preferably >100 mmol of metal per liter) include, for example, alcohols, carboxylic acids, polymers, polyethers, polyalcohols, polysaccharides, sugars, surfactants, silanols, active charcoals, inorganic oxides or hydroxides. A particular characteristic of the modification process according to the invention is the retention of particle size.
According to the invention, the reaction of the organometallic-prestabilized starting materials with such modifiers may also be effected in situ, i.e., without intermediate isolation of the starting materials.
As determined by elemental analysis (cf., e.g., Example 9), the protective shells of the transition metal or alloy particles modified according to the invention consist of metal compounds of the modifier with the elements of the organometallic compounds employed for prestabilization (Periodic Table groups 1 or 2 and 12 and 13, for example, Al or Mg; cf. Table 3, Nos. 18, 19, 24, 26, 29 and 30).
The modification process performed according to the invention permits the preparation of novel nanostructured transition metal or alloy colloids the dispersing properties of which are tailored to match the respective intended technical use. For example, the modification according to the invention of the organoaluminum-prestabilized Pt colloid used as the starting material (Table 1, No. 22) with polyoxyethyle

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