A switchable hydrogenation chemoselectivity of biomass platform compounds based on solvent regulation
Yuanjing Zhang, Si Wang, Yusen Yang, Lei Wang, Enze Xu, Quandong Hou, Shiquan Zhao, Tianyong Liu, Song Hong, Lirong Zheng, Feng Li, Xin Zhang, Min Wei
Abstract
Selective catalytic conversion of biomass-derived compounds to fuels and fine chemicals serves as a renewable energy pathway for the partial substitution of fossil resources, in which reaction pathway and selectivity control are key issues. Herein, we report a fully exposed Pt clusters immobilized on CoAl mixed metal oxides catalyst (denoted as Pt n /CoAl-MMOs), which exhibits prominent catalytic performance towards liquid phase hydrogenation reaction of furfural (FAL). Noteworthily, the hydrogenation chemoselectivity can be switched among four products via using four different solvents: tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA; yield: 91.4%), furfuryl alcohol (FA; yield: 97.7%), 2-methylfuran (2-MF; yield: 92.1%) and furan (FU; yield: 90.8%) are obtained in ethanol, dioxane , isopropanol and n -hexane solvent, respectively. Experimental studies ( in situ FT-IR and TPSR-Mass) combined with theoretical calculations (DFT) reveal that solvent molecules exert an essential influence on the adsorption configuration of FAL via changing the solvent-catalyst and/or substrate-catalyst interaction, which ultimately determines the hydrogenation pathway, key intermediate and final product. This work demonstrates a facile solvent-dependent product-switching strategy within one catalytic system, which opens up potential opportunities for tailoring hydrogenation selectivity in liquid-solid catalytic reactions towards biomass upgrading.