阪大 満留先生との共同研究がACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. に受理されました．

Hydrogenation of carbohydrates to polyols is an industrially important process, but has drawbacks of the use of air-unstable non-noble metal catalysts with low activity or rare and expensive noble metal catalysts. We herein report that a hydrotalcite-supported nickel phosphide nanoalloy (nano-Ni₂P/HT) exhibits air-stability and significantly high activity for the selective hydrogenation of D-glucose to D-sorbitol. The HT support drastically increased the catalytic activity of nano-Ni₂P, leading to a quantitative synthesis of D-sorbitol under relatively milder conditions than that previously reported. The highest turnover numbers in D-glucose hydrogenation were achieved among those of previously reported non- noble metal catalysts. Furthermore, nano-Ni₂P/HT was applicable to a high-concentrated D-glucose (50 wt%) transformation to D-sorbitol and reusable with retaining its high activity and selectivity, thus, representing a green sustainable methodology for the D-sorbitol synthesis from D-glucose. This high activity would be dependent on the cooperative catalysis between nano-Ni₂P and HT.