Solvent- and additive-free liquid-phase acceptorless dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde catalyzed by carbon-encapsulating Cu nanoparticles: a combined experimental and theoretical study

In this work, a solvent- and additive-free catalytic system is built for acceptorless dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde with H 2 liberation. A high benzaldehyde yield (72.5%) is achieved over the catalyst of carbon-encapsulating Cu nanoparticles (CuNPs@C). Experimental results and DFT calculations reveal that the combination of CuNPs and C plays a key role for the catalytic performance due to the significant electron transfer between Cu species and C. This work provides a promising green alternative for benzaldehyde production.