The Ensemble Effect in Bifunctional Catalysis: Influence of Zinc as Promoter for Pd‐H‐ZSM‐5 Catalysts during the Dehydroalkylation of Toluene with Ethane

The ensemble effect, i.e., the fact that the reaction requiring the largest ensemble of surface metal atoms will be most sensitive to promoting with a second metal, has rarely been studied in bifunctional catalysis. In this contribution, it is shown that, during the dehydroalkylation of toluene with ethane on Pd‐H‐ZSM‐5 catalysts with zinc as promoter, the ensemble effect has only an influence on the side reactions on the metal such as hydrogenolysis, but not on the desired acid‐catalyzed alkylation reaction.