title: Atom-economical synthesis of γ-valerolactone with self-supplied hydrogen from methanol.
abstract: γ-Valerolactone (GVL), a versatile biomass derived platform molecule, was synthesized with a highest yield of 89.8% from methyl levulinate (ML) using self-supplied H2 coming from the decomposition of MeOH derived partially from ML. Cu-Cr acted as a bi-functional catalyst for both H2 production from MeOH and carbonyl hydrogenation. An extremely low amount of MeOH (29 mol% relative to ML) was initially necessary to start up the hydrocyclization of ML to GVL and MeOH, which is in turn employed as an in situ H2 source for ML hydrogenation, providing an atom-economical pathway for GVL production.
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yetao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xianhai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. xianhai.zeng@xmu.edu.cn lulin@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D060326:Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic; D002857:Chromium; D003300:Copper; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D007783:Lactones / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D007982:Levulinic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007783:Lactones; D007982:Levulinic Acids; D002857:Chromium; C119867:methyl levulinate; D003300:Copper; D006859:Hydrogen; C037556:gamma-valerolactone; D000432:Methanol