Selective C–C Bond Cleavage in Diols and Lignin Models: High-Throughput Screening of Metal Oxide-Anchored Vanadium in Mesoporous Silica

The development of selective and robust heterogeneous oxidation catalysts is an enabling technology for conversion biomass-derived platform chemicals. Vanadium active sites were incorporated into the structure mesoporous silica via ultra-fast, one-pot synthesis method based on microwave-assisted heating. In addition, Al/Ti/Zr/Ce anchoring ions introduced in order to minimize vanadium leaching better control its dispersion. supported V-(Al/Ti/Zr/Ce)-MCM-41 composite materials assessed as aerobic C–C bond cleavage simple models lignin (1,2-diphenyl-2-methoxyethanol) sugar-derived polyalcohols (meso-hydrobenzoin). TiIV proved be best anchors prevent V leaching, while AlIII ZrIV improve substrates. these are shown 2D VOx layers stabilized anchors. a screen twelve solvents, weakly polar solvents like toluene found most suitable this reaction, was environmentally friendly ethyl acetate. above properties, together with high selectivity cleavage, advocate catalytic pathway, intrinsically different from that reported previously molecular oxovanadium (V) catalysts.