Catalytic refining lignin into toluene over atomically dispersed Cu/Ni dual sites.

ABSTRACT: Lignin refining still suffers from great challenges of selective depolymerization and cleavage of stubborn C‒C linkages. Here, a robust atomically dispersed Cu/Ni-SA@HNC catalyst is fabricated for super-selective hydrogenolysis of lignin and model compounds via an unusual "preferential Cα-Cβ bond cleavage in β-O-4 linkages" pathway, affording toluene in yield up to 75.7% from β-O-4 model compounds, and up to 33.7 ± 1.6 wt% (nine parallel experiments) from poplar lignin. The catalyst exhibits high stability, and the scale-up potential is demonstrated by the high space-time yield of toluene (33.7 g·gcat-1·h-1) in continuous flow reaction of β-O-4 model compound. The origin of the extraordinary selectivity towards Cα-Cβ bond cleavage rather than C‒O bond cleavage in β-O-4 model compounds is u

SUBMITTER: Zhao X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12381155 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature