Efficient Decarbonylation of Fatty Acids to Long-Chain Alkenes by Ordered Mesoporous N-Doped Carbon-Supported Co Single-Atom Catalysts

The catalytic decarbonylation of fatty acids is an attractive approach for converting lipid biomass into valuable olefins; yet, the development of cost-effective catalysts that exhibit both high activity and stability remains challenging. In this work, we present a high-performance single-atom cobalt catalyst (Co@MNC) supported on ordered mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon, synthesized by a hard-template-assisted cocondensation method. The optimized Co1.66@MNC-800 demonstrates exceptional performance in the decarbonylation of stearic acid, achieving a 79% conversion and 70% selectivity for heptadecene. A comprehensive characterization and density functional theory calculation revealed that atomically dispersed Co–N4 sites, which have shorter C–N bond lengths and electron-deficient Co centers, synergistically interact with carbon-matrix defects to promote C–O bond activation and facilitate the decarbonylation of fatty acids. The catalyst demonstrates remarkable durability, preserving activity and structural integrity after 13 repeated reaction cycles. These results provide significant mechanistic insights into single-atom catalysis for biomass conversion and propose a generalizable synthetic approach for the construction of robust decarbonylation catalysts.