Highly Active and Selective RuPd Bimetallic NPs for the Cleavage of the Diphenyl Ether C-O Bond

The cleavage of C-O linkages of aryl ethers into aromatic platform compounds is a challenging reaction but of great importance for the sustainable future. Herein, we reported the efficient H-2-assisted C-O bond cleavage of diphenyl ether (DPE) in aqueous phase over ultrasmall RuPd bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) supported on amine-rich silica hollow nanospheres (NH2-SiO2). RuPds/NH2 SiO2 with TOF of 172 h(-1) and C-O cleavage selectivity of 99% outperformed the corresponding monometallic counterparts and is among the most active solid catalysts for C-O bond cleavage of DPE. The control experiments and characterization results showed that the effective isolation of Ru sites and optimized H-2 dissociation ability mainly contributed to the enhanced catalytic performance of RuPd bimetallic NPs, in which Ru and Pd worked cooperatively with Ru sites for DPE activation and Pd sites for H-2 dissociation. The alloying of two or multiple metal atoms provides an efficient approach for designing high-performance catalysts for chemical transformations.