Visible-light-driven amino acids production from biomass-based feedstocks over ultrathin CdS nanosheets

Song Song, Jiafu Qu, Peijie Han, Max J. Hülsey, Guping Zhang, Yunzhu Wang, Shuai Wang (), Dongyun Chen, Jianmei Lu () and Ning Yan ()
Additional contact information
Song Song: National University of Singapore
Jiafu Qu: Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University
Peijie Han: Xiamen University
Max J. Hülsey: National University of Singapore
Guping Zhang: Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University
Yunzhu Wang: National University of Singapore
Shuai Wang: Xiamen University
Dongyun Chen: Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University
Jianmei Lu: Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University
Ning Yan: National University of Singapore

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Chemical synthesis of amino acids from renewable sources is an alternative route to the current processes based on fermentation. Here, we report visible-light-driven amination of biomass-derived α-hydroxyl acids and glucose into amino acids using NH3 at 50 °C. Ultrathin CdS nanosheets are identified as an efficient and stable catalyst, exhibiting an order of magnitude higher activity towards alanine production from lactic acid compared to commercial CdS as well as CdS nanoobjects bearing other morphologies. Its unique catalytic property is attributed mainly to the preferential formation of oxygen-centered radicals to promote α-hydroxyl acids conversion to α-keto acids, and partially to the poor H2 evolution which is an undesired side reaction. Encouragingly, a number of amino acids are prepared using the current protocol, and one-pot photocatalytic conversion of glucose to alanine is also achieved. This work offers an effective catalytic system for amino acid synthesis from biomass feedstocks under mild conditions.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18532-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-18532-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18532-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().