The catalytic conversion of lignocellulose biomass towards fuels and chemicals has received very much attention in the last decade, as lignocellulose represents a renewable source of carbon.1 Lignin, a highly branched polymer of phenylpropane units, is the most complex fraction present in lignocellulose and is harder to process compared to the other fractions. However, its unique chemical structure suggests that it may be an excellent source of a wide variety of bulk and fine chemicals and fuels.2 There are several ways to convert lignin to smaller chemicals, like pyrolysis, hydrolysis or hydrogenolysis, and these yield a mixture of alkylated and oxygen-functionalized aromatics.2,3 Further conversion of these crude feeds to a more well-defined set of value-added compounds is highly desirable.In this work, we performed the catalytic conversion of guaiacyl- and syringyl-type compounds, which are typical model compounds for depolymerized lignin, and we found that the product selectivity of nickel catalysts can be tuned by selecting a proper catalyst carrier material. Nickel supported on particular oxides results in some interesting phenolic and non-phenolic compounds which can be used as polymer building blocks. 1. Van de Vyver, S., Jacobs, P.A. and Sels, B., ChemCatChem 3 (2011) 82.; Geboers, J.A., Jacobs, P.A. and Sels, B., Catal. Sci. Technol. 1 (2011) 714.; Kobayashi, H., Ohta, H., Fukuoka, A., Catal. Sci. Technol. 2 (2012) 896.2. Zakzeski, J., Bruijnincx, P. C. A., Jongerius, A. L., Weckhuysen, B. M., Chem. Rev. 110 (2010), 3552.;3. Pandey, M. P., Kim, C. S., Chem. Eng. Technol. 34(1) (2011) 29.

Selective nickel-catalyzed conversion of lignin model compounds towards polymer building blocks

246th National Meeting (2013)

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