Harvesting alkyl phenols from lignin monomers via selective hydrodeoxygenation under ambient pressure on Pd/?-MoC catalysts

Alkyl phenol is an essential chemical intermediate that is in high demand in the chemical industry. The synthesis of alkyl phenols from lignin-derived molecules is one of the most promising routes for utilizing biomass re-sources. Herein, we report the catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of dihydroeugenol (DHE) to alkyl phenols over a highly dispersed Pd/alpha-MoC catalyst with a substrate conversion of 98% and a selectivity of 96% to alkyl phenols. The Pd/alpha-MoC catalyst prepared by co-precipitation and temperature-programmed carbonization ex-hibits exceptional HDO activity under mild conditions with a low H2 pressure (1-10 bars). The characterizations of the catalyst suggest that Pd are highly dispersed on the alpha-MoC matrix. The reaction mechanism was inves-tigated using the substrate scope experiments. Under ambient pressure, the abundant oxygen vacancies and acidity sites on Pd/alpha-MoC enable the selective hydrodeoxygenation of lignin monomers.