1,10-菲啰啉修饰 Cu/Al₂O₃ 催化肉桂醛羰基高效选择性加氢

Cinnamaldehyde (CAL) as a representative substance of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, its selective hydrogenation is an extremely important transformation, while developing efficient catalysts with desirable selectivity to highly value-added products is challenging. Herein, we report a supported nano-Cu catalyst modified by 1,10-phenathroline (Cu/Al₂O₃-L₁), which achieved an extraordinary cinnamylalcohol (COL) selectivity (95%) with almost complete transformation of CAL. The characterization and DFT showed that the excellent results were attributed to the interaction between Cu and 1,10-phenathroline and steric hindrance of L₁ which constrained the flat adsorption configuration of CAL and improves the selectivity of COL. In addition, the new surface of catalyst strengthens the interaction between Cu and H₂, which reduced the dissociation energy of H₂, benefits to improve the activity of catalyst. This work highlighting the importance of precisely controlled catalyst surface with N-Ligand and provides the possibility to break the trade-off between activity and selectivity for hydrogenation of chemicals containing variety of reducing groups.