Selective reductive cleavage of C-O bond in lignin model compounds over nitrogen-doped carbon-supported iron catalysts

Lignin has recently attracted much attention as a promising resource to produce fuels and aromatic chemicals. The selective cleavage of C-O bond while preserving the aromatic nature has become one of the major challenges in the catalytic valorization of lignin to aromatic chemicals. In this work, we report that the selective reductive cleavage of C-O bond in lignin model compounds can be successfully achieved through heterogeneous iron catalysis. The hydrogenolysis of alpha-O-4 model linkage shows that the iron catalyst prepared by the simultaneous pyrolysis of iron acetate and 1,10-phenanthroline on activated carbon at 800 degrees C is the most active iron catalyst, affording phenol and toluene with yields of 95% and 90%, respectively. This aromatics selectivity is found to be much higher than that obtained over noble metal catalysts. The presence of N center dot center dot center dot Fe species as the active center of heterogeneous iron catalyst was confirmed by various technologies especially XPS and H-2-TPR. For the beta-O-4 model linkage, the vicinal -OH group was essential for the iron-catalyzed hydrogenolysis of ether linkage. The oxidation of the alpha-carbon in the beta-O-4 model compounds can significantly decrease the bond dissociation energy of ether linkage, giving depolymerization products in moderate to excellent yields.