Gold and gold–platinum as active and selective catalyst for biomass conversion: Synthesis of γ-butyrolactone and one-pot synthesis of pyrrolidone

It has been found that gold is highly active and selective catalyst for the hydrogenation of succinic anhydride (SAN) to γ-butyrolactone (GBL). Using TiO2 as support and performing the reaction in presence of molecular sieves, it was possible to obtain the highest reaction rate ever obtained with 97% selectivity to GBL at 97% conversion. The process appears to be controlled by H2 dissociation on gold and the catalytic activity can be further improved, without loss of selectivity, by adding a very small amount of Pt (100 ppm) to increase the rate of H2 dissociation. We also found that gold is an efficient catalyst for the one-pot conversion of SAN into pyrrolidone and pyrrolidone derivates.