Selective production of γ-valerolactone and valeric acid in one-pot bifunctional metal catalysts

Abstract

In this work, one-pot synthesis of biofuel γ-valerolactone (GVL) and valeric acid (VA) from biomass-derived levulinic acid (LA) are highly selectively produced on a series of robust Pdnanoparticle catalysts. These fine Pd nanoparticles are controllably synthesized and confined in the mesoporous channel of MCM-41-derived supports via a green solvent CO2-assited method. A combination analysis tools are used to study physical properties and elucidate the relationship between the structure and performances. The catalytic results display 5 wt% Pd/AlMCM-41 exhibits the best performances of 88.5% GVL yield at the perfect conversion of LA. Moreover, without the isolation of GVL intermediate, it can also efficiently catalyze the one-pot conversion of LA to VA with 45.1% yield. Besides, Pd nanoparticle catalysts maintain stable structure and good catalytic performances over several runs.