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Updated: Mar 15, 2026

Temperature-programmed Deoxygenation of Acetic Acid on Molybdenum Carbide Catalysts
Published on: February 7, 2017
Highly Selective Deoxydehydration of Tartaric Acid over Supported and Unsupported Rhenium Catalysts with Modified
1Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, 31 Biopolis Way, The Nanos #04-01, Singapore, 138669, Singapore.
Abstract:
The deoxydehydration (DODH) of sugar acids to industrially important carboxylic acids is a very attractive topic. Oxorhenium complexes are the most-often employed DODH catalysts. Because of the acidity of the rhenium catalysts, the DODH products of sugar acids were usually in the form of mixture of free carboxylic acids and esters. Herein, we demonstrate strategies for the selective DODH of sugar acids to free carboxylic acids by tuning the Lewis acidity or the Brønsted acidity of the rhenium-based catalysts. Starting from tartaric acid, up to 97 % yield of free maleic acid was achieved. Based on our strategies, functional polymer immobilized heterogeneous rhenium catalysts were also developed for the selective DODH conversion of sugar acids.
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