Highly selective one-step dehydration, decarboxylation and hydrogenation of citric acid to methylsuccinic acid

The one-step dehydration, decarboxylation and hydrogenation of the bio-based and widely available citric acid is presented. This reaction sequence yields methylsuccinic acid with yields of up to 89%. Optimal balances between the reaction rates of the different steps were found by varying the hydrogenation catalyst and the reaction parameters (H-2 pressure, pH, temperature, time and catalyst-to-substrate ratio).