Highly active biomorphic MgO/C supported Cu NPs direct catalytic coupling of 1,4-butanediol dehydrogenation and acetophenone hydrogenation using in-situ liberated H2

Gas-phase direct catalytic coupling of 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BDO) dehydrogenation and acetophenone (AP) hydrogenation was performed on MgO/Carbon supported Cu nanoparticles. The coupling reaction process completely avoids the practice of hydrogen supply and efficiently utilizes the liberated in-situ H2 from the 1,4-BDO dehydrogenation for the highly selective hydrogenation of AP. A series of Cu catalysts (5−20 wt%) synthesized by wet-impregnation method and well distinguished by BET, ICP-MS, p-XRD, H2-TPR, TPD, FE-SEM, XPS and HR-TEM techniques. Among synthesized catalysts, 10Cu/C-MgO catalyst exhibits outstanding catalytic performance with the maximum conversion of 1,4-BDO (98 %), and AP (95 %). Dramatically, steady γ-butyrolactone (≥99 %) and 1-phenylethanol (99 %) selectivity are observed over 10 wt%Cu/MgO/Carbon catalyst. Moreover, 10 wt% Cu loading exhibited nearly stable activity up to 30 h time-on-stream without any significant deactivation. The presence of biomorphic MgO/Carbon derived from rice grains prevents the sintering of copper particles and improves the catalyst stability. The unusual enhancement in the catalytic performance can be typically attributed to the uniform dispersion of Cu nanoparticles and the presence of an intense amount of surface basic sites on the MgO/Carbon support.