Highly efficient and selective hydrogenation of unsaturated carbonyl compounds using Ni-Sn alloy catalysts

Inexpensive Ni-Sn-based alloy catalysts, both bulk and supported, exhibited high selectivity in the hydrogenation of a wide range of unsaturated carbonyl compounds and produced unsaturated alcohols almost exclusively. For the bulk Ni-Sn alloy catalysts, a relatively high reaction temperature of 453 K was required to achieve an efficient hydrogenation of C=O rather than C=C. The catalyst that consisted of the Ni-Sn alloy dispersed on TiO2 allowed a remarkable reduction of the reaction temperature to 383 K. Both the Ni3Sn2 and Ni3Sn alloy phases were found to be responsible for the enhancement of the chemoselectivity. The Ni-Sn alloy catalysts were reusable without any significant loss of selectivity.