You are currently viewing the abstract.
View Full TextLog in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
Register for free to read this article
As a service to the community, this article is available for free. Existing users log in.
More options
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
Abstract
In contrast to the many methods of selectively coupling olefins, few protocols catenate saturated hydrocarbons in a predictable manner. We report here the highly selective carbon-hydrogen (C–H) activation and subsequent dehydrogenative C–C coupling reaction of long-chain (>C20) linear alkanes on an anisotropic gold(110) surface, which undergoes an appropriate reconstruction by adsorption of the molecules and subsequent mild annealing, resulting in nanometer-sized channels (1.22 nanometers in width). Owing to the orientational constraint of the reactant molecules in these one-dimensional channels, the reaction takes place exclusively at specific sites (terminal CH3 or penultimate CH2 groups) in the chains at intermediate temperatures (420 to 470 kelvin) and selects for aliphatic over aromatic C–H activation.