Volume 11 Issue 3
Jun.  2026
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Article Navigation >  Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts  > 2026  >  11(3): 100253
Weizhen Xie, Yining Zhang, Jiacheng Li, Yue Tang, Yaqi Shi, Lu Lin, Xing Tang. Heterolytic H2 activation over platinum supported on oxygen-vacancy-rich CeO2 (Pt/CeO2–Vo) for efficient reductive amination of levulinic acid to pyrrolidones under ambient conditions[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(3): 100253. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100253
Citation: Weizhen Xie, Yining Zhang, Jiacheng Li, Yue Tang, Yaqi Shi, Lu Lin, Xing Tang. Heterolytic H2 activation over platinum supported on oxygen-vacancy-rich CeO2 (Pt/CeO2–Vo) for efficient reductive amination of levulinic acid to pyrrolidones under ambient conditions[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(3): 100253. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100253
shu

Heterolytic H2 activation over platinum supported on oxygen-vacancy-rich CeO2 (Pt/CeO2–Vo) for efficient reductive amination of levulinic acid to pyrrolidones under ambient conditions

doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100253

  • Xiamen Key Laboratory of Clean and High-Valued Applications for Biomass, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Clean and High-Valued Technologies for Biomass, College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China

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  • Corresponding author: E-mail address: x.tang@xmu.edu.cn (X. Tang)
  • Received Date: 2025-12-16
  • Accepted Date: 2026-03-20
  • Rev Recd Date: 2026-03-12
    • Available Online: 2026-04-15
  • Publish Date: 2026-06-01
    Abstract
  • Reductive amination of biomass-derived levulinic acid (LA) to N-substituted-5-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (BMP), versatile nitrogen-containing chemicals, under ambient conditions is highly desirable but challenging due to inefficient H2 activation. To address this limitation, a platinum (Pt)-based catalyst supported on oxygen-vacancy-rich CeO2 (Pt/CeO2-Vo) was developed, comprising uniformly dispersed Pt/PtO2 heterostructures with adjacent Pt–O–Ce interfacial sites. At these Pt–O–Ce interfaces, electron-deficient Pt and electron-rich O atoms, modulated by neighboring oxygen vacancies, facilitate in situ hydrogen spillover from Pt nanoparticles, generating highly reactive Hδ+–O···Pt–Hδ– pairs that enable the efficient hydrogenation of the condensation intermediates formed between LA and amine substrates. Therefore, Pt/CeO2-Vo achieved a high BMP yield of 95.2% with a productivity of 476.0 mol/(mol·h) within 1 h under ambient conditions. Even at a high LA concentration of 11.4% (w), the yield remained above 90%, demonstrating the catalyst’s efficiency under ambient conditions. It also showed excellent recyclability over six consecutive cycles and maintained stable performance for over 80 h in a fixed-bed flow reactor. This work underscores the critical importance of interfacial engineering in optimizing Pt-based catalysts and provides a robust and sustainable strategy for biomass upgrading under mild conditions.

     

    • Declaration of competing interest
    The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
    Supplementary materials
    Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100253.
    Peer review under the responsibility of Editorial Office of Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts.
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