Towards the Efficient Development of Homogeneous Catalytic Transformation to γ-Valerolactone from Biomass-Derived Platform Chemicals

Recent efforts focused on the production of selected chemicals from biomass as an effective approach to replace fossil feed-stocks. Among them, transformation of the biogenic platform molecule levulinic acid to gamma-valerolactone has been an extensively studied reaction. Although this transformation can be achieved by heterogeneous catalysis, there exists also a strong interest for effective homogeneous catalysis that can operate selectively under milder and sustainable conditions. Herein, we report the utilization of various triphos-analogue ligands that in the presence of Ru(acac)(3) (acac = acetylacetonate) lead to highly efficient gamma-valerolactone production (yield up to 95 %). Excellent catalyst turnover numbers (up to 75855) and turnover frequencies (up to 1382 h(-1)) were accomplished.