A novel Pt/C-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation reaction of p-benzoquinone to produce p-hydroquinone using cyclohexanone as an unexpectedly effective hydrogen source

A new method for the production of p-hydroquinone via a Pt/C-catalyzed reduction of p-benzoquinone is developed. Different from the conventional transfer hydrogenation reactions that usually use secondary alcohols such as isopropanol as the hydrogen source, in this work, it is unexpectedly found that cyclohexanone is a more effective hydrogen source than secondary alcohols, even cyclohexanol. This reaction affords acceptable yields of p-hydroquinone with very high turnover number (1109) of the Pt/C catalyst. A mechanism of this interesting reaction is proposed on the basis of the results of a series of control experiments, GC-MS analysis as well as dynamic studies.