Construction of Pd–TiOx interfaces for selective hydrodeoxygenation of CO bonds in vanillin by supporting Pd nanoparticles on ETS-10 zeolite

The development of efficient catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation of vanillin to 5-methylguaiacol is highly desirable. Herein, we show a construction of Pd–TiOx interfaces by loading Pd nanoparticles on ETS-10 zeolite. These interfaces in the Pd/ETS-10 sample are quite efficient for the cleavage of CO bonds in vanillin, exhibiting >99.9% vanillin conversion and 95.2% 5-methylguaiacol yield at 120 °C. Characterization and kinetic studies have confirmed that the unique Pd–TiOx interfaces activated the CO bond of the intermediates in the reaction. This work might be helpful for the preparation of efficient catalysts for the hydrodeoxygenation of biomass-derived materials in the future.