Selective hydrogenation of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural to 5-methylfurfural over single atomic metals anchored on Nb2O5

Shaopeng Li, Minghua Dong, Junjuan Yang, Xiaomeng Cheng, Xiaojun Shen, Shulin Liu, Zhi-Qiang Wang (), Xue-Qing Gong (), Huizhen Liu () and Buxing Han ()
Additional contact information
Shaopeng Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Minghua Dong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Junjuan Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaomeng Cheng: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaojun Shen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shulin Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhi-Qiang Wang: School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology
Xue-Qing Gong: School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology
Huizhen Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Buxing Han: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract 5-Methylfurfural (MF) is a very useful chemical. Selective hydrogenation of biomass platform molecule 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) to MF using H2 as the reducing agent is very attractive, but challenging because hydrogenation of C=O bond in HMF is more favourable than C–OH both kinetically and thermodynamically, and this route has not been realized. In this work, we prepare isolated single atomic catalysts (SACs) Pt1/Nb2O5-Ov, Pd1/Nb2O5-Ov, and Au1/Nb2O5-Ov, in which single metal atoms are supported on oxygen defective Nb2O5 (Nb2O5-Ov). It is discovered that the SACs can efficiently catalyze the hydrogenation of HMF to MF using H2 as the reducing agent with MF selectivity of >99% at complete conversion, while the selectivities of the metal nanocatalysts supported on Nb2O5 are very poor. A combination of experimental and density function theory (DFT) studies show that the unique features of the SACs for the reaction result from the cooperation of the Nb and Pt sites near the interface in the Pt1/Nb2O5-Ov. The Pt atoms are responsible for the activation of H2 and the Nb sites activate C-OH in the reaction. This work opens the way for producing MF by direct hydrogenation of biomass-derived HMF using H2 as the reductant.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20878-7 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:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20878-7

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20878-7

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 ().