Highly efficient Nb2O5 catalyst for aldol condensation of biomass-derived carbonyl molecules to fuel precursors

Abstract

Aldol condensation is of significant importance for the production of fuel precursors from biomass-derived chemicals and has received increasing attention. Here we report a Nb2O5 catalyst with excellent activity and stability in the aldol condensation of biomass-derived carbonyl molecules. It is found that in the aldol condensation of furfural with 4-heptanone, Nb2O5 has obviously superior activity, which is not only better than that of other common solid acid catalysts (ZrO2 and Al2O3), more importantly, but also better than that of solid base catalysts (MgO, CaO, and magnesium-aluminum hydrotalcite). The detailed characterizations by N2 sorption/desorption, NH3-TPD, Py-FTIR and DRIFTS study of acetone adsorption reveal that Nb2O5 has a strong ability to activate the C=O bond in carbonyl molecules, which helps to generate a metal enolate intermediate and undergo the nucleophilic addition to form a new C–C bond. Furthermore, the applicability of Nb2O5 to aldol condensation is extended to other biomass-derived carbonyl molecules and high yields of target fuel precursors are obtained. Finally, a multifunctional Pd/Nb2O5 catalyst is prepared and successfully used in the one-pot synthesis of liquid alkanes from biomass-derived carbonyl molecules by combining the aldol condensation with the sequential hydrodeoxygenation.