Selective catalytic conversion of guaiacol to phenols over a molybdenum carbide catalyst

Abstract

An activated carbon supported α-molybdenum carbide catalyst (α-MoC1-x/AC) showed remarkable activity in the selective deoxygenation of guaiacol to substituted mono-phenols in low carbon number alcohol solvents. Combined selectivities of up to 85% for phenol and alkylphenols were obtained at 340 °C for α-MoC1-x/AC at 87% conversion in supercritical ethanol. The reaction occurs via consecutive demethylation followed by a dehydroxylation route instead of a direct demethoxygenation pathway.

Thermochemical Conversion of Guaiacol in Aqueous Phase by Density Functional Theory

“…This makes it a suitable representative compound to study deoxygenation for the production of several platform chemicals. Thus, extensive study has been conducted towards guaiacol deoxygenation both experimentally and computationally ,. Some of them are detailed below.…”

“…Experimentally, a number of researchers report the formation of anisole, catechol, phenol and cyclohexane as major products of hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of guaiacol. In a study conducted by Zhou et al., guaiacol is converted to cyclohexane, cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone over NiCo/CNT catalyst.…”

“…studied the effect of water as the solvent and they reported catechol as major derivative among other products. In a study by Ma et al., the effect of alcohol as the solvent is studied to upgrade guaiacol using activated carbon supported α‐molybdenum carbide catalyst (MoC 1‐x /AC). Their study report high selectivity towards the formation of mono‐oxygenated phenols such as o‐cresol and others with catechol as intermediate.…”

Liquid-Phase Hydrodeoxygenation of Guaiacol over Mo2C Supported on Commercial CNF. Effects of Operating Conditions on Conversion and Product Selectivity

“…Noticeably, catechols were produced at 623 K with selectivity of 2.7%, as a result of the demethylation of guaiacol, which had not been detected at 573 K. Other authors working on Mo 2 C/CNF catalysts reported that the formation of phenol during HDO of guaiacol did not involve its demethylation into catechol, but instead the formation of phenol occurred by direct demethoxylation of the guaiacol [20]. However, the formation of phenol having catechol as an intermediate compound was previously reported over Mo 2 C/AC catalysts [54]. Moreover, another research group [19] had previously reported that the formation of catechols in fact could occur over Mo 2 C/CNF catalysts by the demethylation of guaiacol, addressing the possibility of the coexistence of the two routes above mentioned, in accordance with the results of this work.…”

Correlation between Liquid Product Distribution and H2 Selectivity in Lignin Depolymerization

“…However, the aromatics (C [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] ) increased steadily and became the main component of the liquid products instead of the aliphatic compounds, during the process of decreasing H 2 selectivity (from 81 to 49 %) and H 2 yield (from 14.52 to 4.11 mmol). Compared with the H 2 selectivity and yield ob- tained without formic acid, the former constituted the main change.…”