Highly Effective Hydrodeoxygenation of Sulfoxides and Pyridinic-N-Oxides Using Biomass-Derived Ethanol as the Hydrogen Donor

Ethanol is regarded as a promising and green hydrogen donor due to its easy and large-scale production from abundant biomass resources. In this work, a nitrogen-doped carbon-encapsulated Co catalyst (Co@NC-800) was synthesized by a simple pyrolysis process and demonstrated promising activity in the hydrodeoxygenation of sulfoxides and pyridine N-oxides, producing sulfide and pyridine with good yields ranging from 80.3 to 99.0%. Moreover, the activity of the Co@NC-800 catalyst remained stable after 5 runs, indicating good stability. Graphical