Here, an innovative approach to produce renewable pentadiene is described: converting levulinic acids to 1,4-pentanediol, followed by dehydration to pentadiene affording 77.5% yield over a multifunctional Ce/ ZrSi catalyst. Impressively, a synergistic effect between Ce and ZrSi was disclosed for the direct dehydration, and further transformation was relatively stimulated from the undesirable product 2-methyltetrahydrofuran toward pentadiene. Moreover, the direct dehydration took priority over the pentadiene synthesis among the two reaction pathways.
Catalyst deactivation is a problem of great concern for many heterogeneous reactions. Here, an urchin‐like LaPO4 catalyst was easily developed for pentane‐2,3‐diol dehydration; it has an impressive ability to restore the activity in situ by itself during the reaction, accounting for its high stability. This facilitates the efficient production of renewable penta‐1,3‐diene from pentane‐2,3‐dione via a novel approach, where penta‐2,3‐diol was obtained as an intermediate in 95 % yield under mild conditions.
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