Ruthenium Nanoparticle-Decorated Porous Organic Network for Direct Hydrodeoxygenation of Long-Chain Fatty Acids to Alkanes

Abstract

With the rapidly diminishing fossil fuel resources, development of a new strategy for synthesis of biofuels from renewable resources can provide a sustainable alternative to our energy demand. We present the design, synthesis, and characterization of a new porous organic network (TpPON) through acid-catalyzed condensation of 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (Tp) and triphenylamine (TPA). Ru0 nanoparticles are successfully fabricated at the porous surface of TpPON to obtain a novel catalytic system Ru@TpPON, which exhibits excellent catalytic performance together with outstanding stability for the hydrodeoxygenation of various vegetable oils to long-chain alkanes in water, and thus TpPON has wide potential for large-scale biodiesel production from renewable resources.