Highly efficient and chemoselective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyls over Pd/N-doped hierarchically porous carbon

Palladium nanoparticles supported on N-doped hierarchically porous carbon, Pd/CNx, has been developed as a highly efficient, reusable and environmentally benign heterogeneous catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of various alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyls to their corresponding saturated carbonyls under mild conditions (303 K, 1 bar H-2). Complete conversion of a series of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyls was achieved with excellent selectivity (>99%) within 4 h. Moreover, the catalyst can be easily recovered by centrifugation and withstands recycling up to 8 times without apparent loss of activity and selectivity. The considerable catalytic performance is attributed to the hierarchically porous network and incorporation of nitrogen atoms. This catalytic system opens up an efficient, selective, recyclable and sustainable method for selective hydrogenation.