Atom-economical synthesis of γ-valerolactone with self-supplied hydrogen from methanol

Abstract

γ-Valerolactone (GVL), a versatile biomass derived platform molecule, was synthesized with a highest yield of 89.8% from methyl levulinate (ML) using self-supplied H₂ coming from the decomposition of MeOH derived partially from ML. Cu–Cr acted as a bi-functional catalyst for both H₂ production from MeOH and carbonyl hydrogenation. An extremely low amount of MeOH (29 mol% relative to ML) was initially necessary to start up the hydrocyclization of ML to GVL and MeOH, which is in turn employed as an in situ H₂ source for ML hydrogenation, providing an atom-economical pathway for GVL production.