Conversion of levulinic acid to N-substituted pyrrolidinones over a nonnoble bimetallic catalyst Cu15Pr3/Al2O3

• Published in: Catalysis communications 2018-11, Vol.116, p.85-90
• Main Authors: Cao, Pengwei, Ma, Tengfei, Zhang, Hong-Yu, Yin, Guohui, Zhao, Jiquan, Zhang, Yuecheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amines; Bimetallic catalyst Cu15Pr3/Al2O3; Levulinic acid; N-substituted pyrrolidinone; Reductive amination
• ISSN: 1566-7367; 1873-3905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.catcom.2018.07.016

A nonnoble bimetallic metal catalyst Cu15Pr3/Al2O3 readily prepared through incipient-wetness impregnation method was developed for the reductive amination of levulinic acid (LA) with amines to N-substituted-5-methyl-2-pyrrolidinones. A wide variety of N-substituted-5-methyl-2-pyrrolidinones were obtained in high yield over this catalyst. The characterization results from XRD, H2-TPR, XPS, TEM, NH3-TPD and N2 adsorption-desorption revealed that Cu0 species are the active species for the hydrogenation in the reductive amination reaction. Besides, the doping of praseodymium into γ-Al2O3 supported copper catalyst greatly enhanced the catalytic performance of Cu/γ-Al2O3 due to better dispersion of Cu0. [Display omitted] •Levulinic acid was transformed to pyrrolidinones in high yield over Cu15Pr3/Al2O3.•Doping of Pr into Cu15/Al2O3 optimizes the structure of copper based catalyst.•The bimetallic catalyst Cu15Pr3/Al2O3 showed good performance in the reaction.•The non-noble bimetallic catalyst is low cost compared to reported noble catalysts.