Hybrid Magnetically Separable Catalyst for the Hydrogenation of Levulinic Acid to γ-Valerolactone

Abstract

Catalytic hydrogenation of plant-derived levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) is a promising way for obtaining liquid fuels by sustainable methods. This work deals with the synthesis of a hybrid organic–inorganic ruthenium catalyst that showed high activity and stability in the production of GVL. A combination of an organic phase, namely, a layer of a branched pyridylphenylene polymer that uniformly distributes the catalytic complexes over a substrate, and an inorganic carrier SiO2 with magnetic nanoparticles, which has a hydrophilic surface, allowed for accomplishing the reaction in water and provided GVL in a quantitative yield for 180 min at 150 °C and 2 MPa or for 60 min at 150 °C and 5 MPa. Owing to simple recovery through magnetic separation, the catalyst was used in six catalytic runs without a significant decrease in the activity.