One‐Pot Transfer Hydrogenation of methyl levulinate into valerolactone and 1,4‐pentanediol over in situ Reduced Cu/ZrOCO3 in 2‐PrOH

In this work, a simple and economical process, the reduction preparation of the Cu/ZrOCO3 catalyst and the catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH)reaction of methyl levulinate (ML)were carried out simultaneously in one pot providing 89.79% product yield at 180 ° C for 7 h. Different from direct hydrogen transfer reaction catalyzed by ZrOCO3 with only valerolactone (GVL) produced, the introduction of Cu/Cu+ on ZrOCO3 carrier not only enhances the activity of the reaction, but also further converts GVL into 1,4‐pentanediol (1,4‐PDO)by indirect hydrogen transfer. In addition, we also found the copper‐loaded amphoteric carrier has better catalytic activity than the basic carrier. A new catalyst, in situ reduced Cu/ZrOCO3, is obtained for the CTH reaction and different reaction mechanisms have been found using ZrOCO3 and Cu/ZrOCO3 as catalysts, respectively, which affects the degree of the reaction.