Atsushi Fukuoka

Sweetly done: Pt or Ru catalysts supported on inorganic oxides show high activity for the conversion of cellulose into sugar alcohols (mainly sorbitol) in water under hydrogen pressure; furthermore, the catalysts can be recycled over repeated runs. Glucose is produced in low yields, thus suggesting that the Pt (or Ru)/oxide works as a bifunctional catalyst for the hydrolysis of cellulose and subsequent reduction to sugar alcohols. Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW u

Lignocellulose is the most abundant non-food biomass and is used as a feedstock for the production of chemicals. Lignocellulose consists of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, in which the sugar polymers account for a large portion of the biomass. Sugar compounds obtained from non-food biomass can be the first platform chemicals in the biorefinery. From this viewpoint, this review article mainly deals with the catalytic synthesis and utilisation of sugar derivatives produced from cellulose and

Cellulose is converted into sorbitol and related sugar compounds over water-tolerant and durable carbon-supported Pt catalysts under aqueous hydrogenation conditions. Pre-treatment of cellulose with ball-milling effectively reduces the crystallinity and particle size of cellulose, which results in high conversion of cellulose to sorbitol and mannitol. The selectivity of sorbitol increases by using Cl-free metal precursors in the catalyst preparation as residual Cl on the catalysts promotes the s

Best Supporting Role: Ru/CMK-3 is a water-tolerant and reusable catalyst for the hydrolysis of cellulose, and exhibits high glucose yields and turnover numbers due to a synergistic effect between CMK-3 and Ru. CMK-3 contributes to the conversion of cellulose into oligosaccharides, while Ru promotes the hydrolysis of oligosaccharides to glucose.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVCommunicationNEXTNovel Templating Synthesis of Necklace-Shaped Mono- and Bimetallic Nanowires in Hybrid Organic−Inorganic Mesoporous MaterialAtsushi Fukuoka, Yuzuru Sakamoto, Shiyou Guan, Shinji Inagaki, Noriaki Sugimoto, Yoshiaki Fukushima, Kaori Hirahara, Sumio Iijima, and Masaru IchikawaView Author Information Catalysis Research Center, Hokkaido University Sapporo 060-0811, Japan Toyota Central R&D Laboratories, Inc. Nagakute, Aichi 480-1192, Japan Japan Scien

Conversion of lignocellulose into renewable chemicals and fuels has received great attention for building up sustainable societies. However, the utilisation of lignocellulose in the chemical industry has largely been limited to paper manufacturing because of the complicated chemical structure and persistent property of lignocellulose. Heterogeneous catalysis has the potential to selectively convert lignocellulosic biomass into various useful chemicals, and this methodology has rapidly progressed

Preferential oxidation (PROX) of CO is an important practical process to purify H2 for use in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Although many supported noble metal catalysts have been reported so far, their catalytic performances remain insufficient for operation at low temperature. We found that Pt nanoparticles in mesoporous silica give unprecedented activity, selectivity, and durability in the PROX reaction below 353 K. We also studied the promotional effect of mesoporous silica in the Pt-catal

Ru/C catalysts are active for the conversion of cellulose using 2-propanol or H(2) of 0.8 MPa as sources of hydrogen, whereas the Ru/Al(2)O(3) catalyst is inactive in both reactions, indicating that the Ru/C catalysts are remarkably effective for the cellulose conversion.

Carbon-supported Pt catalysts are highly active and reusable for the aqueous-phase hydrodeoxygenation of phenols as lignin models without adding any acids. It is suggested that Pt/carbon facilitates the hydrogenation of phenols and the hydrogenolysis of the resulting cyclohexanols.

Mesoporous silica films work as templates to form uniform nanoparticles of Au and Pt. The composite materials form an array of metal nanoparticles (diameter ca. 2.5 nm) in the one-dimensional mesopores (pore diameter 2.7 nm), showing an ordered structure in the TEM observation. The nanoparticles are isolated from the silica film by dissolving with a diluted HF solution, and in the presence of 1-dodecanethiol unsupported Au nanoparticles form a superlattice structure.

Süße Sache: Pt- oder Ru-Komplexe auf anorganischen Oxiden sind sehr aktive Katalysatoren der Umwandlung von Cellulose in Zuckeralkohole (hauptsächlich Sorbitol) in Wasser unter Wasserstoffdruck; außerdem können die Katalysatoren mehrmals wiederverwendet werden. Glucose entsteht in niedrigen Ausbeuten, was dafür spricht, dass die Pt- oder Ru-Oxide difunktionelle Katalysatoren der Cellulosehydrolyse und der anschließenden Reduktion zu Zuckeralkoholen sind.

H-beta zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 75 uniquely shows high catalytic activity for the dehydration of sorbitol, giving a 76% yield of isosorbide at 400 K over 2 h.