C.R. Lee et al. / Catalysis Communications 17 (2012) 54–58
57
Fig. 4. Proposed reaction pathway of guaiacol to cyclohexane with bifunctional catalysts.
used instead of acidic supports, which yielded 1% cyclohexane and 89% 2-
methoxycyclohexanol although the conversion of guaiacol was high at
99% (Fig. 3(a)). These observations indicate that the metal nanoparticles
catalyze the hydrogenation of aromatic rings but that acid sites are re-
quired to hydrodeoxygenate guaiacol further. We also performed the
hydrogenation of guaiacol on Rh/SiAl under heating from room tem-
perature to 250 °C (Fig. 3(b)) and observed that the reaction pressure
increased with the temperature. It started to decrease at ~58 °C before
increasing at ~108 °C (T1 in Fig. 3(b)). The decreasing pressure indi-
cates the consumption of H2 by the hydrogenation of guaiacol at 58–
108 °C, which fully converted guaiacol and yielded 91, 2, 0.1, and 0.3%
of 2-methoxycyclohexanol, cyclohexanone, cyclohexanol, and cyclo-
hexane, respectively, when the heating was stopped at ~108 °C (T1 in
Fig. 3(b)). A decrease in the pressure, or H2 consumption, was also
observed when the hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol-converted 2-
methoxycyclohexanol was isothermally performed at 250 °C (T2 in
Fig. 3(b)). In addition to these results, the product yields depending
on the reaction temperature were observed, and cyclohexane was
obtained at temperatures above the range of 220 – 250 °C (Fig. 3(c)).
The findings outlined above suggest that the hydrodeoxygenation of
guaiacol occurs through a combination of hydrogenation of the aromatic
ring on metal at 58 – 108 °C and deoxygenation of the oxygenates with
metal-deposited acid catalysts at a temperature above 250 °C. In order
to confirm this hypothesis, we performed the hydrodeoxygenation of
guaiacol (7.5 wt.% in 40 mL n-decane) with Rh/ZrO2 (0.4 g, 3 wt.% Rh)
and a mixture of Rh/ZrO2 (0.4 g, 3 wt.% Rh) and noble-metal-free SiAl
(0.4 g) at 250 °C under 40 bar of pressure (Fig. 3(a)). Because nonporous
ZrO2 exhibited fewer acid sites and lower surface area (Supplementary
information) compared to the other supports of Al, SiAl, and NAC, the
catalysis on Rh/ZrO2 exhibited the full hydrogenation of the aromatic
ring of guaiacol but a negligible amount of deoxygenation, yielding
89% 2-methoxycyclohexanol and 6% hydrodeoxygenated products of
cyclohexanol, cyclohexanone, and cyclohexane. In contrast to the poor
hydrodeoxygenation activity of Rh/ZrO2, the mechanically mixed SiAl
and Rh/ZrO2 produced a 20% yield of 2-methoxycyclohexanol and an
18% combined yield of hydrodeoxygenated products. In addition, the
hydrodeoxygenation of 2-methoxycyclohexanol (7.5 wt.% in 40 mL n-
decane) attempted with noble-metal-free SiAl (0.4 g) exhibited a 79%
conversion of 2-methoxycyclohexanol and a 15% yield of cyclohexane,
both of which are similar to the results obtained with a mixture of Rh/
ZrO2 and SiAl. These observations indicate that the hydrogenated
product, 2-methoxycyclohexanol, obtained with Rh/ZrO2 diffused
to the surface of SiAl and was further deoxygenated on SiAl. The
yield of cyclohexane with a mixture of Rh/ZrO2 and SiAl was, however,
lower than that with Rh/SiAl, which indicates that the close proximity of
SiAl to hydrogen-adsorbed metals accelerates the hydrodeoxygenation
process.
temperature, we did not observe the formation of phenol despite the
fact that it has been frequently reported to form via the demethylation
and dehydration of guaiacol [7]. Because of the excellent hydrogenation
activity of noble metal nanoparticles, the reaction pathway (guaiacol →
2-methoxycyclohexanol → hydrodeoxygenated products) suggested in
Fig. 4 is very different from the well-known pathway (guaiacol → phenol
→ hydrodeoxygenated products) [7,9,11,12,14].
4. Conclusions
The catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol occurred when using bi-
functional catalysts of metal nanoparticles supported on acidic matrices,
constituting the hydrogenation of aromatic rings on metal catalysts and
the deoxygenation on metal-deposited acidic supports. The hydrodeoxy-
genation of guaiacol required acid catalysts whose acidity appears to de-
termine the degree of deoxygenation. It was also observed that the
hydrogenation of aromatic rings occurred following the deoxygenation
process when the reaction system was heated. Because various lignin
monomers of phenolic compounds share similar molecular structures
with guaiacol, the results here pertaining to the hydrodeoxygenation of
guaiacol may be applicable to the conversion of other lignin monomers
and dimers, such as eugenol, coniferyl alcohol, or aryl-ether derivatives
[1]. Understanding the catalytic roles of bifunctional catalyst components
will assist with the design of highly active catalysts for the conversion of
lignin fragments.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of
Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MEST) (No.
2010–0028850).
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at doi:10.
1016/j.catcom.2011.10.011.
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The observations in this study indicate that the hydrodeoxygenation
of guaiacol occurs with acid-catalyst-supported precious metal catalysts
through the reaction pathway suggested in Fig. 4. The aromatic ring of
guaiacol was fully hydrogenated when heated from room temperature
to ~108 °C and further deoxygenated to cyclohexanol, cyclohexanone,
and cyclohexane when heated to 250 °C. Because of the preferred
hydrogenation of the aromatic ring of guaiacol at the lower