Control in advanced biofuels synthesis via alcohol upgrading: catalyst selectivity to n ‐butanol, sec ‐butanol or isobutanol

Wingad, Richard, Birch, Laurence, Farndon, Joshua, Lee, Jason, Pellow, Katy J. and Wass, Duncan F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0356-7067 2023. Control in advanced biofuels synthesis via alcohol upgrading: catalyst selectivity to n ‐butanol, sec ‐butanol or isobutanol. ChemCatChem , e202201410. 10.1002/cctc.202201410

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Abstract

Ruthenium complexes with tetradentate PNNP donor ligands demonstrate a marked change in selectivity compared to analogous bis bidentate PN complexes in Guerbet catalysis, producing mixtures of n‐butanol (17 %), sec‐butanol (14 %) and ethyl acetate (66 %) rather than the usual 90 %+ selectivity to n‐butanol. Tridentate PNP ruthenium complexes such as [Ru(H)(Cl)(CO)(Ph2PCH2CH2NHCH2CH2PPh2)] also produce sec‐butanol and, in optimized conditions (120 °C, 10 mol% NaOEt base), achieve 71 % selectivity to this butanol isomer. The same tri‐ and tetradentate complexes are efficient catalysts for the conversion of methanol/ethanol mixtures to isobutanol (up to 97 % selectivity). In this way, judicious choice of ligand within this general catalyst family allows selectivity to three butanol isomers of interest as fuel molecules.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI) Chemistry
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1867-3880
Funders:	EPSRC UK Catalysis Hub, BP
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 January 2023
Date of Acceptance:	9 December 2022
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2023 22:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/155900

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