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Updated: Jul 10, 2025

HKUST-1 as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the Synthesis of Vanillin
Published on: July 23, 2016
Hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone over hydrophobic Ru@HCP catalysts
Xinbin Gong1,2, Xiao Feng2,3, Jieqi Cao2,3
1School of Textile and Material Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China. qywxh@163.com.
Abstract:
This study introduces an efficient strategy for promoting the synthesis of γ-valerolactone (GVL) via levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation. A series of hyper-crosslinked porous polymer (HCP) supported Ru catalysts with different monomers were prepared. The wettabilities were controlled by the surface functional groups. The hydrophobic catalysts showed much higher activity than the hydrophilic ones in the hydrogenation of LA to GVL, highly possible due to the substrate enrichment. Further insight showed that the reaction proceeded through the 4-HVA route. These results illustrated the importance of surface wettability in bio-based molecule upgrading, which is beneficial for catalyst design.
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