阪大 満留先生との共同研究がGreen Chemistryに受理されました．

The hydrogenation of carbohydrates to polyols is an industrially important process but has the significant drawbacks of using air-unstable non-noble metal catalysts with low activity, and requirement of harsh reaction conditions. Herein, we report that a hydrotalcite (HT)-supported nickel phosphide nanoalloy (nano-Ni2P/HT) exhibits both air stability and high activity for the selective hydrogenation of D-glucose to D-sorbitol in water. The nano-Ni2P/HT catalyst shows excellent activity to provide D-sorbitol in excellent yield with >99% selectivity under mild reaction conditions. Typically, nano-Ni2P/HT is the first non-noble metal catalyst for operating under just 1 bar of H2 or ambient temperature. This high performance of nano-Ni2P/HT is significantly different from conventional Ni(0) and NiO nanoparticles, and Raney catalysts, which result in almost no production of D-sorbitol, demonstrating the unique catalysis of nano-Ni2P/HT. Furthermore, nano-Ni2P/HT shows the highest activity among those reported for non-noble metal catalysts. The nano-Ni2P/HT catalyst can be also reused while retaining its high activity and selectivity, and the successful transformation of a concentrated D-glucose solution (50 wt%) has been achieved. This is the first example of an air-stable, highly active, and reusable non-noble metal catalyst that can replace conventional catalysts, thus paving the way for the cheap, green, and sustainable production of D-sorbitol.