Strategic use of crude H2 for the catalytic reduction of carbonyl compounds

Abstract

Toward a more efficient use of crude H2 without its energy-consuming purification and/or composition regulation processes, this study employs gaseous mixtures of H2, CO, CO2, and CH4 for the catalytic hydrogenation of aldehydes and ketones in the presence of strategically designed triarylboranes and 4-methyltetrahydropyrane as a greener ethereal solvent. The present results emphasize the unexplored utility of less-toxic main-group catalysis for the catalytic hydrogenation using CO- and CO2-rich crude H2. This stands in contrast to the well-established transition-metal catalysis that generally requires purified H2.

Keywords

• Crude hydrogen
• Boranes
• Hydrogenation
• Carbonyl compounds
• Waste-to-hydrogen strategy