Synthetic porous materials applied in hydrogenation reactions

Abstract Hydrogenation reaction is commonly employed to reduce or saturate a molecule by adding pairs of hydrogen atoms. Such reaction process has been applied for the production of various chemicals worldwide, from the industrial synthesis of fine chemicals used in life to large-scale operations in upgrading of crude oil. Porous materials have been widely used as catalyst, support or reductant in hydrogenation reaction due to their basic structure characteristics, controllable pore size and surface properties. Compared to bulk or nanoparticle materials, the application potential of porous materials should be attributed to the following improvements in hydrogenation reaction: i) porous network structures improve the diffusion of reactants and the accessibility of the active sites, and thus realize efficient transformations; ii) large surface area provide more opportunities for designing surface active sites and surface modification; iii) tunable pore size is conductive to improve the selectivity of reactant/product molecules with certain size; iv) diversity of synthetic approaches offer many possibilities for the design of surface properties and pore structures. This review focuses on several representative synthetic porous materials widely applied in hydrogenation reactions. We specially highlight their synthesis, design of structure, and surface properties which are beneficial for their functions in hydrogenation reactions. The hydrogenation processes reviewed here include not only the reactions with gaseous hydrogen (H2) as hydrogen source, but also hydrogen transfer reactions. This review is anticipated to provide some inspiration for developing advanced porous functional materials for organic synthesis, and drive the optimization of hydrogenation reactions for application.