Cover Picture: One‐Pot Conversion of Sugar and Sugar Polyols to n‐Alkanes without CC Dissociation over the Ir‐ReOx/SiO2 Catalyst Combined with H‐ZSM‐5 (ChemSusChem 4/2013)

Abstract The cover image highlights the research carried out by the group of Keiichi Tomishige at Tohoku University in Japan, which is reported on page 613 ff. The image shows that the Ir-ReOx/SiO2 catalyst can be used to selectively cut off OH groups of biomass-derived compounds, such as sugar polyols, through hydrogenolysis just like the skin of pineapple can be cut off with a knife. Thus, n-hexane and n-pentane can be obtained from aqueous polyalcohol (sorbitol and xylitol) solutions at high yields in the presence of n-dodecane as co-solvent. The direct production of n-hexane from glucose or cellobiose can be achieved by using the same system. The catalyst can be reused simply by the removal of the n-dodecane phase, which contains the product alkane, and the addition of fresh n-dodecane and substrate.