Deoxydehydration with Molecular Hydrogen over Ceria-Supported Rhenium Catalyst with Gold Promoter

Gold nanoparticle cocatalyst and ceria support catalyst enabled the use of H2 as a reductant for Re-catalyzed deoxydehydration (DODH), converting vicinal diols to olefins with higher activity than homogeneous Re catalysts using non-H2 reductants and with comparable selectivity. The suitable particle size (∼10 nm) of Au in ReOx-Au/CeO2 catalyst was especially effective for activating H2 while retaining the C═C bond in DODH products. Glycerol was converted to allyl alcohol in 91% yield, and the TON per Re atom reached 300. This system is applicable to other substrates such as erythritol (81% yield of 1,3-butadiene).