Influence of Water-Miscible Organic Solvent on the Activity and Stability of Silica-Coated Ru Catalysts in the Selective Hydrolytic Hydrogenation of Cellobiose into Sorbitol

Abstract

Ruthenium nanoparticles supported on carbon black were coated by mesoporous protective silica layers (Ru/CB@SiO2) with different textural properties (SBET: 280–390 m2/g, pore diameter: 3.4–5.0 nm) and were tested in the selective hydrogenation of glucose into sorbitol. The influence of key parameters such as the protective layer pore size and the solvent nature were investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses proved that the hydrothermal stability was highly improved in ethanolic solution with low water content (silica loss: 99% in water and 32% in ethanolic solution). In this work, the strong influence of the silica layer pore sizes on the selectivity of the reaction (shifting from 4% to 68% by increasing the pores sizes from 3.4 to 5 nm) was also highlighted. Finally, by adding acidic co-catalyst (CB–SO3H), sorbitol was obtained directly through the hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellobiose (used as a model molecule of cellulose), demonstrating the high potential of the present methodology to produce active catalysts in biomass transformations.

Chemocatalytic production of sorbitol from cellulose via sustainable chemistry – a tutorial review

“…High yields have been obtained for carbon and silicon composite supported metal catalysts, such as Ni/SiC, 24 Ru/CB@SiO 2 . 114 Some hydrothermally stable solid acids are good supports for bifunctional heterogeneous catalysts, such as zeolites, metal oxides, heteropolyacids and modified carbon materials, which will be discussed in detail in the next section.…”

Metallic or Metallic Oxide (Photo)catalysts for Environmental Applications

“…Ru-based catalysts were also developed for cellulose valorisation. Haynes et al [10] focused on the protection of active Ru nanoparticles supported on carbon black (CB) by various mesoporous silica coatings. The influence of key parameters, such as the protective layer pore size and the solvent nature of the catalytic reaction were investigated.…”