Ambient-pressure synthesis of ethylene glycol catalyzed by C60-buffered Cu/SiO2

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 376; no. 6590; pp. 288 - 292
• Main Authors: Zheng, Jianwei, Huang, Lele, Cun-Hao Cui, Zuo-Chang, Chen, Xu-Feng, Liu, Duan, Xinping, Xin-Yi, Cao, Tong-Zong, Yang, Zhu, Hongping, Kang, Shi, Du, Peng, Si-Wei, Ying, Chang-Feng, Zhu, Yuan-Gen Yao, Guo-Cong, Guo, Yuan, Youzhu, Su-Yuan, Xie, Lan-Sun, Zheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington The American Association for the Advancement of Science 15.04.2022
• Subjects: Buckminsterfullerene; Catalysts; Chemical reactions; Chemical synthesis; Chromium; Copper; Deactivation; Ethylene; Ethylene glycol; Fullerenes; Gravel; High pressure; Hydrogenation; Oxalic acid; Palladium; Silica; Silicon dioxide
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.abm9257

Promoting copper catalysts with C60Ethylene glycol, a commodity chemical used as a feedstock and antifreeze agent, is synthesized industrially from dimethyl oxalate (DMO) by hydrogenation over precious-metal palladium catalysts at high pressures (typically 20 bars). Copper-chromium catalysts supported on silica as an alternative have required even high pressures. Zheng et al. show the addition of fullerene (C60) onto copper-silica allows DMO hydrogenation to be performed at ambient pressures with high yield (98%) and without deactivation after 1000 hours (see the Perspective by Gravel and Doris). The use of C60 to stabilize electron-deficient copper species that enhance hydrogen adsorption could likely be applied to other hydrogenation reactions catalyzed by copper. —PDS