Chemoselective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes on hydrogenated MoOx nanorods supported iridium nanoparticles

As reducible supports, metal oxides present the varied charge effect after hydrogen doping and partial reduction, accomplishing the tunable metal-support interactions and the promoted catalytic turnover in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, the one-pot fabrication of hydrogenated MoOx (H-MoOx) nanorods supported Ir (Ir/H-MoOx) was developed, which simultaneously combined the generation of active centers (Ir) and the hydrogen doping on supports (H-MoOx). Because of the accumulated electrons around MoO6 octahedras after hydrogen doping, the electronic perturbations arising from H-MoOx supports led to the negatively charge Ir delta- species being beneficial for the selective hydrogenation of C=O moiety in alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes. In the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde to cinnamyl alcohol, Ir/H-MoOx delivered selectivity as high as 93%, performing among the best of current metal-based catalysts. Additionally, the efficacy for various substrates with multiple groups further verified our Ir/H-MoOx system to be competitive for chemoselective hydrogenation. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.