Selective valorization of lignin to phenol by direct transformation of C<sub>sp2</sub>-C<sub>sp3</sub> and C-O bonds.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33158871.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abd1951 and PMC identifier 7673717.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Phenol is an important commodity chemical in the industry, which is currently produced using fossil feedstocks. Here, we report a strategy to produce phenol from lignin by directly deconstructing C<sub>sp2</sub>-C<sub>sp3</sub> and C-O bonds under mild conditions. It was found that zeolite catalyst could efficiently catalyze both the direct C<sub>sp2</sub>-C<sub>sp3</sub> bond breakage to remove propyl structure and aliphatic β carbon-oxygen (C<sub>β-</sub>O) bond hydrolysis to form OH group on the aromatic ring. The yield of phenol could reach 10.9 weight % with a selectivity of 91.8%. In this unique route, water was the only reactant besides lignin. A scale-up experiment showed that 4.1 g of pure phenol could be obtained from 50.0 g of lignin. The reaction pathway was proposed by a combination of control experiments and density functional theory studies. This work opens the way for producing phenol from lignin by direct transformation of C<sub>sp2</sub>-C<sub>sp3</sub> and C-O bonds in lignin.