Catalytic Hydrogenation of Sugars

Heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of various sugars over a range of catalysts was historically done mainly using sponge nickel catalysts, while more recently ruthenium based catalysts started to be applied since Ru affords good activity and excellent selectivity in addition to being void of the toxic properties of Ni. The chapter covers various aspects of catalytic sugar hydrogenations, such as catalyst selection, reaction kinetics, sugar structure influence, structure sensitivity and reactor design.