Support-Boosted Nickel Phosphide Nanoalloy Catalysis in the Selective Hydrogenation of Maltose to Maltitol

• Published in: ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering Vol. 9; no. 18; pp. 6347 - 6354
• Main Authors: Yamaguchi, Sho, Fujita, Shu, Nakajima, Kiyotaka, Yamazoe, Seiji, Yamasaki, Jun, Mizugaki, Tomoo, Mitsudome, Takato
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 10.05.2021
• Subjects: maltose; maltitol; metal−support interactions; nickel phosphide; hydrogenation; nanoalloy; hydrotalcite
• ISSN: 2168-0485; 2168-0485
• DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c00447

Metal phosphide catalysts have attracted attention for organic synthesis owing to their stability and high activity. Nevertheless, metal–support interactions and support-boosted metal phosphide catalysis remain unexplored. Herein, we report the development of a hydrotalcite (HT: Mg6Al2CO3(OH)16·4­(H2O))-supported nickel phosphide nanoalloy (nano-Ni2P/HT) that exhibits high activity for the hydrogenation of maltose, which is an important reaction for producing maltitol as a sweetener and food additive. The HT support drastically increased the catalytic activity of nano-Ni2P, allowing nano-Ni2P/HT to outperform conventional catalysts. Various spectroscopic studies revealed that cooperative catalysis by nano-Ni2P and HT plays a key role in the efficient hydrogenation of maltose. The cooperative catalysis enabled high-yield production of maltitol, even at ambient temperature. Furthermore, nano-Ni2P/HT was successfully recovered and reused while retaining its high activity and selectivity. Notably, nano-Ni2P/HT operated well in concentrated maltose solutions (>50 wt %), demonstrating that the high performance of this catalyst will pave the way for the efficient and sustainable production of maltitol.