Role of water on metal catalyst performance for ketone hydrogenation. A join experimental and theoretical study on levulinic acid conversion into gamma-valerolactone
Résumé
While Ru is a poor hydrogenation catalyst compared to Pt or Pd in the gas phase, it is efficient under aqueous phase conditions in the hydrogenation of ketones such as the conversion of levulinic acid into gamma-valerolactone. Combining DFT calculations and experi- ments, we demonstrate that water is responsible for the enhanced reactivity of Ru under those conditions.