Hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes to aromatic hydrocarbons over Cu-HZSM-5 catalyst

• Hydrogenation/deoxygenation of aromatic aldehydes was investigated.
• Cu-H-ZSM-5 exhibited excellent activity for this reaction.
• The strong acidity of HZSM-5 accelerated the hydrogenolysis of CO bond.
• A general process for hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes was established.

With benzaldehyde as a model compound, the hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes to aromatic hydrocarbons was investigated. Cu-HZSM-5 exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the reaction. The obtained catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption/desorption, N2O chemisorptions, X-ray diffraction, NH3-temperature programmed desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that Cu0 active species exhibited poor activity for the hydrogenation of benzene ring, while the strong acidity of HZSM-5 accelerated the hydrogenation reaction via hydrogen spillover phenomenon and the C–O activation effect. In addition, the catalyst was proved to be effective for the hydrogenation of a series of aromatic aldehydes to corresponding aromatic hydrocarbons.

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