Hydrodeoxygenation of Vicinal OH Groups over Heterogeneous Rhenium Catalyst Promoted by Palladium and Ceria Support

Heterogeneous ReO x –Pd/CeO 2 catalyst showed excellent performance for simultaneous hydrodeoxygenation of vicinal OH groups. High yield (>99 %), turnover frequency (300 h −1 ), and turnover number (10 000) are achieved in the reaction of 1,4‐anhydroerythritol to tetrahydrofuran. This catalyst can be applied to sugar alcohols, and mono‐alcohols and diols are obtained in high yields (≥85 %) from substrates with even and odd numbers of OH groups, respectively. The high catalytic performance of ReO x –Pd/CeO 2 can be assigned to rhenium species with +4 or +5 valence state, and the formation of this species is promoted by H 2 /Pd and the ceria support.