Heteropolyacids promoted NiMo/MOF catalyst for catalytic oxidation of lignin dimers in oxygen atmosphere

Lignin, as an important biomass resource, has significant research value in its oxidative cleavage process. Nickel-based metal catalysts could selectively depolymerize lignin. A series of heteropolyacid doped nickel based bimetallic catalysts Ni 4 Mo 1 -MOF-x（x represented heteropolyacid）were prepared by hydrothermal method, which were calcined to catalyze the oxidative cleavage of lignin model compound (2-phenoxy-1-acetophenone). The catalyst Ni 4 Mo 1 -MOF-SiWA-0.1(500) showed the best catalytic performance in methanol solvent under conditions of 160 °C, 4 h, 0.5 MPa oxygen pressure, where the conversion rate was nearly 100 % and the yields of phenol and benzoic acid were 54.5 % and 23.3 %, respectively. The catalysts were well characterized to explore the catalytic performance during the oxidation of lignin dimer. This study could provide some interesting and useful information for the catalytic oxidation of lignin to biomass-derived chemicals.