Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of the C═O Bond in Unsaturated Aldehydes over Pt Nanoparticles Embedded in Porous UiO-66 Nanoparticles

Selective preparation of unsaturated alcohols via the hydrogenation of C═O in α,β-unsaturated aldehydes is a challenging reaction. In this work, a nanoscale material Pt/UiO-66 catalyst with homogenously dispersed Pt nanoparticles encapsulated in UiO-66 was prepared. Its performance for the selective formation of unsaturated alcohols from unsaturated aldehydes with molecular H2 and via the catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) was compared. It was found that Pt/UiO-66 was more selective and efficient for the hydrogenation of the C═O bond to alcohol when isopropanol was utilized as hydrogen donors instead of molecular H2. The selectivity of unsaturated alcohols reached 94.6% at a 90.5% conversion of unsaturated aldehydes at 150 °C. At the same time, the utilization of isopropanol as hydrogen donors reached 92.6%, and a turnover frequency of 4071 h–1 was achieved. The CTH reaction mechanism over Pt/UiO-66 was suggested based on the results of several control experiments.