Highly selective electrocatalytic alkynol semi-hydrogenation for continuous production of alkenols.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36941296.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-37251-z and PMC identifier 10027872.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Alkynols semi-hydrogenation is a critical industrial process as the product, alkenols, have extensive applications in chemistry and life sciences. However, this class of reactions is plagued by the use of high-pressure hydrogen, Pd-based catalysts, and low efficiency of the contemporary thermocatalytic process. Here, we report an electrocatalytic approach for selectively hydrogenating alkynols to alkenols under ambient conditions. For representative 2-methyl-3-butene-2-ol, Cu nanoarrays derived electrochemically from CuO, achieve a high partial current density of 750 mA cm-2 and specific selectivity of 97% at -0.88 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode in alkaline solution. Even in a large two-electrode flow electrolyser, the Cu nanoarrays deliver a single-pass alkynol conversion of 93% with continuous production of 2-methyl-3-butene-2-ol at a rate of ~169 g gCu-1 h-1. Theoretical and in situ electrochemical infrared investigations reveal that the semi-hydrogenation performance is enhanced by exothermic alkynol adsorption and alkenol desorption on the Cu surfaces. Furthermore, this electrocatalytic semi-hydrogenation strategy is shown to be applicable to a variety of alkynol substrates.