Construction of dendritic mesoporous SiO₂ supported Cu catalyst for hydrodeoxidation of lignin derivatives

Chemoselective hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin derivatives is of great importance in converting biomass into high value-added chemicals. Herein, we report a simple hydrothermal pathway to fabricate a highly active, chemically selective, and reusable catalyst (Cu/DMSN) by loading copper clusters on "dendritic" mesoporous silica nanospheres. Cu/DMSN exhibits exceptional catalytic activity (conversion > 99 %, selectivity > 99 %) in the HDO of vanillin toward 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol under mild conditions (140 °C, 0.5 MPa, 3 h), along with good scalability and a wide range of substrates. The excellent catalytic performance can be owed to the combination of suitable acid site and more exposed metal site. This study provides a new strategy for designing supported metal catalysts for hydrodeoxidation of biomass and its derivatives.