Process for Amineborane Dehydrogenation/Dehydrocoupling Using Organometallic Catalysts
Introduction Hydrogen storage is widely recognized as a critical enabling technology for the development of hydrogen-fueled vehicles. The conventional storage method, compressed H2 gas, requires a large tank volume and the possibility of a tank rupture poses a significant safety risk. Condensing and cooling the H2 gas to liquid H2 provides a significant volumetric improvement over compressed H2 gas, though a considerable amount of energy is wasted on maintaining the low temperature required to keep the hydrogen in the liquid state. An alternative to these more traditional methods is chemical hydrogen storage. Although many molecular hydride complexes have certain features that might be attractive for this application, the high hydrogen capacities needed for transportation applications exclude most compounds. Amineboranes, such as ammoniaborane, are thus unique in their potential ability to store and deliver large amounts of molecular hydrogen through dehydrogenation reactions. However, the high temperatures and long reaction times required to generate the gas in significant quantities from its thermal decomposition would be impractical for use in hydrogen storage applications. Technology description Inventors at the UW have developed a chemical process that can be used in the development of aminoboranes as a hydrogen storage medium. Late transition metal complexes that incorporate known tridentate ligands have been shown to mediate the dehydrogenation/dehydrocoupling of ammonia-borane at room temperature. The rapidity with which these complexes catalyze the elimination of hydrogen from ammonia-borane under remarkably mild conditions is promising for the development of ammonia-borane for hydrogen storage. Business opportunity There is significant potential for use of this invention for hydrogen storage purposes, particularly for on-board automotive applications. The hydrogen storage capacity of ammonia-borane exceeds the target for the year 2015 set by the Department of Energy’s “Grand Challenge” for Basic and Applied Research in Hydrogen Storage. Related Publication(s)Denny MC et al, Efficient catalysis of ammonia borane dehydrogenation, J Am Chem Soc. 2006 September ;128(37):12048-9.
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