Sustainable synthesis of high-density fuel via catalytic cascade cycloaddition reaction

The access to high-density hydrocarbon fuels from biomass for the reduction of dependence on fossil resources has been a research highlight in recent years. It is well known that cycloalkanes are the components of fuels with higher energy density than straight or branched alkanes. Herein, we developed a new catalytic pattern to synthesize dimethyltetradecahydroanthracenes (DMTHA), a kind of tricyclic alkane, from biomass-derived isoprene and p-benzoquinone via a cascade Diels-Alder reaction followed by a hydrodeoxygenation reaction. Vanadium supported on titanium dioxide (V-TiO2) was applied to catalyze the cascade Diels-Alder reaction and it was disclosed that V with appropriate V4+/V5+ ratio on the surface of TiO2 could activate quinones. Experimental tests showed that the heating value of final products was up to 45.7 MJ/kg. The development of new high-density fuel molecules is a long-term trend for the future renewable and sustainable fuel energy application.