Naturally Occurring Phytic Acid-Derived Aluminum Phosphate for Highly Efficient Conversion of Biomass-Based Alcohols into Unsymmetrical Organic Carbonates

Both the assembly of naturally occurring resources into functional catalytic materials and upgrading of biomass-derived alcohols are of significant importance in the green chemistry community, which have achieved significant attention. Herein, we constructed several earth-abundant metal phosphates (MPOs) by the pyrolysis of the assembly structure of plant-originated sodium phytate (Na-PhyA) and the corresponding metal ions. It was discovered that the obtained aluminum phosphate (AlPO) was highly efficient for the transesterification of diethyl carbonate (DEC) with various biomass-derived alcohols (except for methoxy-substituted aromatic alcohols) to produce unsymmetrical organic carbonates with high selectivities (>96%). Detailed investigations revealed that the excellent catalytic activity of the phytic acid (PhyA)-derived AlPO originated mainly from the high content of Lewis acidic sites to activate the carbonyl groups in DEC and the hydroxyl group in alcohols simultaneously. Besides, its relative high surface area could also boost the reaction. Notably, the fact of combining bioderived catalysts and upgrading of important biomass derivatives enabled this work to be highly promising and practical from the viewpoint of green chemistry.