Carbon-Coated Cobalt-Catalyzed Hydrodeoxygenation of Lipids to Alcohols

The abundant metal-catalyzed selective hydrodeoxygenation of lipids to alcohols has great industrial application potential. Herein, a carbon-coated Co catalyst has been fabricated by a simple detonation-reduction method. This material exhibits outstanding performance for the selective hydrodeoxygenation of lipids to alcohols (200 °C, 5 h, 2 MPa H2, over 5 runs), which mainly benefits from the carbon layer on the Co surface. This carbon layer optimizes substrate adsorption, which enhances the H2 adsorption process. The carbon coating also inhibits the oxidation of Co particles, resulting in the co-existence of Co0 and CoO, which is beneficial for H2 activation. In addition, kinetic studies indicate that hydrogen activation should be included in the rate-determining step of this reaction.