Synergistic Co-CoOx dual sites confined in carbon for hydrogen-free hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol to cyclohexanol

Catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is a pivotal strategy for upgrading lignin-derived oxygen-rich compounds into value-added chemicals. Developing high-performance non-precious metal inorganic catalysts with precisely controllable active sites remains a core challenge in this field. Herein, we reported a facile one-pot hydrothermal-calcination reduction method to construct carbon-confined Co-CoO x dual-site catalysts (Co x @Sa y -T) using salicylic acid as a bifunctional organic ligand and in-situ carbon source. The optimized Co 5 @Sa 5 –550 catalyst exhibited outstanding performance in the transfer HDO of guaiacol to cyclohexanol, achieving 99.3% guaiacol conversion and 93.5% cyclohexanol selectivity under mild conditions (180 °C, 2 MPa N 2 , 4 h) with isopropanol as the hydrogen donor, eliminating the need for external H2. Comprehensive structural characterizations demonstrated that the superior catalytic activity originates from the synergistic effect of uniformly dispersed Co-CoO x sites. Metallic Co centers catalyzed isopropanol dehydrogenation to generate active hydrogen species, while CoO x species acted as moderate Lewis acid sites to facilitate methoxy group adsorption and C O bond cleavage. This work provided a controllable and scalable strategy for designing efficient non-precious metal inorganic catalysts for biomass valorization.