Catalytic deoxygenation of biomass derived polyalcohols using acid-, water- and high-temperature stable Ruthenium complexes.

通过消化非食物生物质（如稻草、玉米秸秆、木屑、树皮、草等）获得的糖和衍生物，这些糖和衍生物广泛存在于加拿大的农业和林业部门，原则上可以作为可再生的碳原料，用于发展真正可持续的化学工业，为制造塑料、涂料、油漆、树脂、化妆品和药品提供燃料和基本化学品。然而，从化学家的角度来看，这些糖衍生物与目前定义我们的技术和文明的化石碳原料（天然气、原油和煤）具有非常不同的性质。因此，它们需要经历大量的化学转化，才能用作液体燃料或聚合物构建块。特别是糖衍生物的含氧量过高，其整体反应性难以控制，无法融入现有的化学工业生产流程。为了应对这一挑战，我们正在尝试开发新的工艺，通过一种称为“氢脱氧”的过程，通过与氢气反应去除作为水的氧原子，而氢气又可以通过利用风能和太阳能产生的可再生电力对水进行电解来获得。这可以将生物质转化为碳饲料，实际上与从原油提炼中获得的碳饲料相同，但最终来自当地种植的植物材料。实现这种加氢脱氧过程需要使用催化剂，即人造金属基化合物，可以实现、加速和指导所需的化学转化类型。因此，圭尔夫大学Schlaf研究小组的重点是合理设计、测试和评估这些催化剂，并开发整个技术过程。由于目前我们消耗高达10卡路里的化石碳能源来种植和向最终用户提供1卡路里的食物（如柴油来运行农业机械和送货卡车，但也由于化肥和农药的使用），我们相信这项工作对我们的粮食供应安全具有至关重要的长期战略意义。

Sugars and derivatives obtained by the digestion of non-food biomass such as straws, corn stover, wood chips, barks, grasses, etc., which is widely available from Canada's agriculture and forestry sectors and could in principle be used as the renewable carbon feed stock for the development of a truly sustainable chemical industry supplying fuel as well as basic chemicals for the manufacture of plastics, coatings, paints, resins, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. From a chemist's perspective these sugar derivatives have however very different properties than the fossil carbon feeds (natural gas crude oil and coal) that presently define our technology and civilization. They therefore need to go undergo substantial chemical transformations in order to be usable as either liquid fuels or polymer building blocks. In particular, the oxygen content of the sugar derivatives is too high and their overall reactivity to uncontrollable for them to be integrated into the existing production streams of the chemical industry. In order to address this challenge, we are trying to develop new processes that can lower the oxygen content of these molecules by a process called "hydrodeoxygenation" that removes oxygen atoms as water by reaction with hydrogen gas, which in turn can be obtained by electrolysis of water using renewable electricity generated from Wind and Solar. This can convert the biomass to a carbon feed that is effectively identical to that obtained from the refining of crude oil, but ultimately originates from locally grown plant material. The realization of such hydrodeoxygenation process requires the use of catalysts, i.e., man-made metal-based compounds that can enable, accelerate and direct the type of chemical transformation required. The focus of the Schlaf Research Group at the University of Guelph is therefore on the rational design, testing and evaluation of such catalysts and the development over the overall technical process. Since at present we consume up to 10 calories of fossil carbon energy to grow and deliver 1 calorie of food to the end user (as Diesel oil to run farm machinery and delivery trucks, but also due to fertilizer and pesticide use) we believe this work to be of critical long-term strategic importance to the security of our food supply.