Non-noble metal-catalyzed selective CO hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes to corresponding alcohols is chemically atom economic and practically feasible. This work reports hydrotalcite-derived Co-based catalysts for catalyzing aqueous phase selective hydrogenation reaction of cinnamaldehyde to cinnamyl alcohol. The structure characterizations demonstrate the phase transition from hydrotalcite to co-existed CoO and metallic Co in the optimal CoAl-H-400 catalyst. It exhibits superior catalytic activity and selectivity relative to other as-obtained Co catalysts, because of the synergy effect of Co sites to promote the adsorptive activation of CO group and small-size Co sites to facilitate the activating dissociation of hydrogen. Furthermore, the catalytic role of water has also been explored. Adopting water as pure solvent and partially adding water into organic solvent can both effectively enhance the activity and selectivity. Such reaction environment may induce creation of more intermolecular hydrogen bonds for promoting the hydrogen transfer and thus boosting the hydrogenation reaction.

中文翻译：

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水滑石衍生钴催化剂上水促进的肉桂醛选择性加氢

非贵金属催化α,β-不饱和醛选择性CO加氢生成相应的醇在化学上是原子经济的并且实际上是可行的。这项工作报道了水滑石衍生的钴基催化剂，用于催化肉桂醛水相选择性加氢反应生成肉桂醇。结构表征证明了最佳 CoAl-H-400 催化剂中从水滑石到共存 CoO 和金属 Co 的相变。由于Co位点促进CO基团的吸附活化和小尺寸Co位点促进氢的活化离解的协同作用，相对于其他所获得的Co催化剂，它表现出优异的催化活性和选择性。此外，还探讨了水的催化作用。采用水作为纯溶剂以及在有机溶剂中部分添加水均能有效提高活性和选择性。这样的反应环境可以诱导产生更多的分子间氢键以促进氢转移，从而促进氢化反应。