Rhenium-Catalyzed Dehydration and Deoxydehydration of Alcohols and Polyols: Opportunities for the Formation of Olefins from Biomass

Abstract

In view of the depletion of petroleum oils, new synthetic routes for the sustainable production of chemicals, fuels, and energy from renewable biomass sources are currently widely investigated. In particular, nonedible sugars and polyols are promising starting materials to produce olefins by dehydration, deoxygenation, or deoxydehydration (DODH) of these poly vicinal alcohols. In this perspective, we highlight the recent evolution of rhenium-catalyzed dehydration and DODH of biomass-derived alcohols and polyols to obtain olefins. Improving over the classical acid-catalyzed dehydration reaction, rhenium-mediated systems are very selective and more active to provide high yields of olefin products, but dehydration alone cannot be used to fully defunctionalize sugars. This issue is addressed by a growing research effort in the field of Re-catalyzed DODH, which allows complete dehydroxylation to form olefins in high yield. Recent developments in this field include the development of new molecular rhenium catalysts, the application of cheaper and more available reductants, and a growing mechanistic understanding owing to both experimental and computational studies. Finally, recent efforts to move beyond rhenium toward cheaper metals (Mo, V) are discussed.