Cu nanoparticles anchored in MIL‐101 metal‐organic frameworks for the selective hydrogenation of CO2‐derived ethylene carbonates

The Cu‐based catalysts have been widely employed in the hydrogenation of CO2‐derived ethylene carbonate (EC) to ethylene glycol (EG) and other derivatives, but still suffered from some problems such as unsatisfactory selectivity and catalyst stability. Herein, a Cu@MIL‐101 catalyst was prepared via a two‐solvent method to anchor copper (Cu) nanoparticles into the MIL‐101 metal organic frameworks, which exhibited superior catalytic performance with ∼100% conversion, 2‐hydroxyethyl formate (2‐HEF) selectivity of 82% at 160°C, or EG selectivity of ∼92% at 180°C. The characterization results showed that the Cu0 and Cr3+ species play a key role on the dissociation of H2 and activation of C‐O and C=O bonds in the esters, and thus exhibited an excellent catalytic performance of the EC hydrogenation. In addition, the strong interaction between Cu0 species and unsaturated coordination Cr3+ species in the MIL‐101 framework resulted in the high stability. Since the product of methanol was not generated on the Cu@MIL‐101 catalyst, it is valuable to produce 2‐HEF by controlling the temperature of 160°C in the EC hydrogenation rection. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.