A research group at Nagoya University has developed a catalyst that converts (hydrogenates) carboxylic acids, which are abundant in our daily lives, into alcohol with high efficiency.The existing low valence metal catalyst has a problem that the type of carboxylic acid that can be used is limited because a reaction different from the intended one is likely to occur due to its high hydrogenation ability.Therefore, this research group investigated the possibility of high valence metals with low hydrogenation ability as hydrogenation catalysts, and as a result, found that rhenium catalysts have excellent ability.
Carboxylic acid is naturally abundant not only in large quantities in the petrochemical industry that supports our lives, but also as a biomass resource of biological origin.In recent years, it is expected that this carboxylic acid will be converted into alcohol that can be used for many purposes such as fuels and pharmaceuticals and effectively used."Hydrogenation," which converts carboxylic acid to alcohol, is a clean reaction that uses only water as waste.
When the rhenium catalyst developed this time was used for hydrogenation of carboxylic acid, which is known to be very stable and difficult to chemically convert, the desired alcohol was obtained in high yield.Not only that, it was found to be effective for hydrogenation of carboxylic acids containing various functional groups that conventional catalysts did not work well, and the types of carboxylic acids that can be used have increased significantly.
It was also found that by reacting a carboxylic acid with an acid anhydride using a renium catalyst, a new carbon chain can be bonded and converted into an alcohol having an increased number of carbon atoms.This reaction is not known with conventional low valence catalysts, and it has become possible to newly synthesize alcohols with various carbon skeletons.
It is expected that this result will contribute to the realization of a sustainable carbon cycle society.
Paper information: [Scientific Reports] Catalytic transformation of functionalized carboxylic acids using multifunctional rhenium complexes
