Ru-B amorphous alloy deposited on mesoporous silica nanospheres: An efficient catalyst for D-glucose hydrogenation to D-sorbitol

In this paper, highly ordered mesoporous silica nanospheres externally covered by methyl groups (-CH3) but internally grafted by aminopropyl groups (-NH2) were used as host matrix for loading Ru-B amorphous alloy nanoparticles (NPs). The -NH2 and the CH3 groups served synergistically as effective functionalities for highly dispersing Ru-B NPs within the pore channels of the mesoporous host. Such catalyst was used in the liquid-phase D-glucose hydrogenation and delivered much higher activity than industrial Raney Ni and the commercial Ru/C catalysts. Meanwhile, it could be used repetitively for more than 9 times, showing a good potential in practical applications. This work demonstrated that the surface properties of mesoporous materials can be modified through region-selective immobilization of diverse organic groups, which is essential to optimize the catalysis for some reactions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.