Herein we have developed a highly active, robust, and selective porous organic polymer (PPTPA-1, POP) encapsulated magnetically retrievable Pd-Fe 3 O 4 nanohybrid catalyst in a one-step solvothermal route and investigated its catalytic performance in levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation, a key platform molecule in many biorefinery schemes, to γ-valerolactone (GVL), employing formic acid as sustainable H 2 source. The specific textural and chemical characteristics of as-synthesized nanohybrid materials were identified by XRD, XPS, FT-IR, 13 C CP MAS NMR, HR-TEM, and FE-SEM with the corresponding elemental mapping and nitrogen physisorption studies. It was found that the nanohybrid Pd-Fe 3 O 4 /PPTPA-1 catalyst exhibited a substantially enhanced activity in comparison with the monometallic catalysts (Pd/PPTPA-1 and Fe 3 O 4 /PPTPA-1). Evidence of the electronic interaction between Pd and Fe attributable to the intrinsic hybrid synergistic effect is thought to be responsible for this superior catalytic performance and improvement in catalyst stability. The recycling experiments revealed that the magnetic nanohybrid catalyst sustained remarkable recycling efficiency and magnetism after being used in 10 successive catalytic runs, which made Pd-Fe 3 O 4 /PPTPA-1 a potential catalyst for the production of GVL in industry.

Robust nanoarchitectures based on surfactant‐free ultrafine Pd nanoparticles (NPs) (2.7–8.2±0.5 nm) have been developed by using the incipient wetness impregnation method with subsequent reduction of PdII species encaged in the 1,3,5‐triazine‐functionalized nitrogen‐rich porous organic polymer (POP) by employing NaBH4, HCHO, and H2 reduction routes. The Pd‐POP materials prepared by the three different synthetic methods consist of virtually identical chemical compositions but have different physical and texture properties. Strong metal–support interactions, the nanoconfinement effect of POP, and the homogeneous distribution of Pd NPs have been investigated by performing 13C cross‐polarization (CP) solid‐state magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR, FTIR, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), along with wide‐angle powder XRD, N2 physisorption, high‐resolution (HR)‐TEM, high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF‐STEM), and energy‐dispersive X‐ray (EDX) mapping spectroscopic studies. The resulting Pd‐POP based materials exhibit highly efficient catalytic performance with superior stability in promoting biomass refining (hydrodeoxygenation of vanillin, a typical compound of lignin‐derived bio‐oil). Outstanding catalytic performance (≈98 % conversion of vanillin with exclusive selectivity for hydrogenolysis product 2‐methoxy‐4‐methylphenol) has been achieved over the newly designed Pd‐POP catalyst under the optimized reaction conditions (140 °C, 10 bar H2 pressure), affording a turnover frequency (TOF) value of 8.51 h−1 and no significant drop in catalytic activity with desired product selectivity has been noticed for ten successive catalytic cycles, demonstrating the excellent stability and reproducibility of this catalyst system. A size‐ and location‐dependent catalytic performance for the Pd NPs with small size (1.31±0.36 and 2.71±0.25 nm) has been investigated in vanillin hydrodeoxygenation reaction with our newly designed Pd‐POP catalysts. The presence of well‐dispersed electron‐rich metallic Pd sites and highly rigid cross‐linked amine‐functionalized POP framework with high surface area is thought to be responsible for the high catalytic activity and improvement in catalyst stability.

Core–shell catalytic nanoreactor was designed, exhibiting high catalytic activity for levulinic acid hydrogenation.

Porous organic polymer encapsulated Mn3O4 nanoneedles exhibited catalytic activity in the oxidation of diverse alcohols with tremendous recyclability.

A novel MnFe O -porous organic polymer (POP) nanocomposite was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method and using the highly cross-linked N-rich benzene-benzylamine POP. The nanocomposite presented highly efficient photocatalytic performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from pure water without addition of any sacrificial agent under one AM 1.5 G sunlight illumination. A photocatalytic activity of 6.12 mmol h g was achieved in the absence of any noble metal cocatalyst, which is the highest H production rate reported for nonprecious metal catalysts. The photocatalytic performance of MnFe O -POP could be attributed to the intrinsic synergistic effects of manganese ferrite (MnFe O ) nanoclusters interacting with the nitrogen dopant POP with a unique mesoporous nanoarchitecture and spatially confined growth of MnFe O in the interconnected POP network, leading to high visible-light absorption with fast electron transport.

A new series of noble metal free bimetallic Cu−Ni supported ceria‐zirconia catalysts (Cu−Ni/CZ) has been developed with various Cu/Ni ratios by a simple co‐precipitation/impregnation method. Aqueous‐phase hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of vanillin a typical compound of lignin‐derived bio‐oil, in promoting biomass refining was carried out to investigate catalytic performances under 25 bar of H2 pressure at 160oC. All the as‐synthesized catalysts were thoroughly characterised employing powder XRD, Raman spectroscopy, H2‐TPR, HR‐TEM, HAADF‐STEM, EDS Mapping, and XPS. It was found that 15 wt% Cu on Ni/CZ (Cu−Ni/CZ−B) nanocomposite enhanced activity significantly in comparison with other bimetallic or monometallic catalysts, exhibiting ∼98% of vanillin conversion and ∼94% of selectivity toward 2‐methoxy‐4‐methylphenol as a desired product. The Cu−Ni/CZ−B catalyst shows ∼4‐fold increase in activity compared with Cu−Ni/CeO2 and Cu−Ni/ZrO2, the mono oxide supported counterparts. The superior catalytic performance with improved stability were explained by synergistic effects at the interfaces of each species, in which electron interactions between Ni, Cu, and ceria‐zirconia support generated novel active sites. XRD and HR‐TEM revealed that Cu−Ni bimetallic phases were created on the ceria‐zirconia, which were responsible for enhancement of catalytic performance with no significant drop in catalytic activity with desired product selectivity for eleven successive catalytic cycles demonstrating the excellent stability and reproducibility of this catalyst system.

Correction for ‘Strongly coupled Mn3O4-porous organic polymer hybrid: a robust, durable and potential nanocatalyst for alcohol oxidation reactions’ by Karnekanti Dhanalaxmi et al., RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 36728–36735, DOI: 10.1039/C6RA07200C.