Generating abundant Co3+ species via H2O/N2 mixed atmosphere pyrolysis of CoZn-ZIF for catalytic transfer hydrogenation

Abstract

Pyrolysis under a weakly oxidizing H2O/N2 atmosphere, instead of pure N2, facilitated the generation of abundant Co3+ species with strong Lewis acidity from CoZn/CN catalysts. Consequently, the γ-valerolactone (GVL) yield in the catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) reaction of levulinic acid (LA) to GVL increased significantly from 4.5% to 97.8%.