Impact Factor:15.7

DOI number:10.1038/ncomms12075

Journal:NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

Abstract:Upgrading C1 chemicals (for example, CO, CO/H2, MeOH and CO2) with C–C bond formation is essential for the synthesis of bulk chemicals. In general, these industrially important processes (for example, Fischer Tropsch) proceed at drastic reaction conditions (>250 °C; high pressure) and suffer from low selectivity, which makes high capital investment necessary and requires additional purifications. Here, a different strategy for the preparation of ethylene glycol (EG) via initial oxidative coupling and subsequent reduction is presented. Separating coupling and reduction steps allows for a completely selective formation of EG (99%) from CO. This two-step catalytic procedure makes use of a Pd-catalysed oxycarbonylation of amines to oxamides at room temperature (RT) and subsequent Ru- or Fe-catalysed hydrogenation to EG. Notably, in the first step the required amines can be efficiently reused. The presented stepwise oxamide-mediated coupling provides the basis for a new strategy for selective upgrading of C1 chemicals.

Co-author:Elangovan, Saravanakumar；Sang, Rui；Spannenberg, Anke；Jackstell, Ralf；Junge, Kathrin；Li, Yuehui*； Beller, Matthias*；

First Author:Dong, Kaiwu

Indexed by:Journal paper

Correspondence Author:Li, Yuehui*； Beller, Matthias*；

Document Type:J

Volume:7

Translation or Not:no

Date of Publication:2016-07-05

Included Journals:SCI

Links to published journals:https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12075